U.S. bans visas for ex-EU commissioner over alleged censorship
A former EU commissioner has hit back after receiving a US visa ban over alleged censorship.
The Trump administration has imposed a visa ban on Thierry Breton, the former European Union commissioner behind the Digital Services Act (DSA), and four anti-disinformation campaigners, accusing them of censoring US social media platforms.
“The State Department is taking decisive action against five individuals who led organized efforts to force American platforms to censor, demonize, and suppress American viewpoints they oppose,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement. he said.
He added: “These radical activists and weaponized NGOs have sophisticated censorship crackdowns by foreign governments, invariably targeting American speakers and American companies.”
Therefore, he said, their entry into the United States would have “potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences.”
“Based on these findings, the Department has taken steps to impose visa restrictions on agents of the global censorship-industrial complex, resulting in their general ban from entry into the United States.”
Breton, who served as EU commissioner from 2019 to 2024, wrote about X: “As a reminder: 90% of the European Parliament (our democratically elected body) and all 27 Member States voted unanimously for the DSA.”
“To our American friends: “Censorship is not where you think it is.”
This comes as President Donald Trump continues to increase travel restrictions on foreign visitors and criticizes Europe.
Rubio did not disclose who his department took action against, but Undersecretary for Public Diplomacy Sarah Rogers later did so in X.
HateAid co-leader Josephine Ballon, who serves on Germany’s Digital Services Advisory Council, was among those working on counter-disinformation campaigns to receive sanctions. His co-leader Anna-Lena von Hodenberg was also impressed. CNBC has reached out to Ballon and Von Hodenberg for comment.
The bans are part of Rogers’ efforts to enforce what he calls a “red line” for the United States and “extraterritorial censorship of Americans.”
In an interview with Great Britain News on December 4, Rogers took aim at the UK’s Online Safety Act (OSA), saying the law was enforced outside the country by taking into account US citizens’ conversations about US politics on US-based platforms.
Europe’s DSA and the UK’s OSA are just a few of several laws designed to keep the power of Big Tech in check and improve children’s online safety.
DSA forces tech giants like Google and Meta to more aggressively police illegal content or face hefty fines; The OSA law, on the other hand, requires age verification on adult sites and some other platforms.
