PANews reported on December 27 that, in response to the EU's Digital Services Act's emphasis on "zero space" governance of tweets, Vitalik called for replacing "purification" controls with user empowerment, incentives, and transparency to maintain genuine freedom of expression and a diverse society.

Vitalik argues that this "zero space" concept is a totalitarian and anti-pluralistic impulse because its attempt to completely eliminate subjectively controversial content (such as "hate speech" or "disinformation") inevitably creates conflict and builds a technocratic authoritarian mechanism for enforcement. Vitalik believes that free societies must accept that some people will sell "dangerous products" or spread "malicious opinions," but the goal should not be complete eradication, but rather preventing such content from dominating the discourse. Vitalik advocates for a "pirate-style" user empowerment approach: incentivizing rather than banning harmful content; promoting greater openness and transparency on social media platforms, etc.