The United States Denies Visas to Former European Union Official and Others Concerning Online Platform Regulations
The US State Department announced it would refuse entry permits to five individuals, including a former EU commissioner, for allegedly seeking to "force" American social media platforms into suppressing opinions they oppose.
"These individuals and aggressive non-profits have advanced censorship crackdowns by other governments - in each case focusing on American speakers and American companies," remarked US diplomat Marco Rubio.
Thierry Breton implied that a "witch hunt" was underway.
Officials labeled Breton as the "architect" of the EU's Digital Services Act (DSA), which mandates speech regulations on digital platforms.
A Contentious Law
Yet, it has angered certain right-leaning Americans who view it as seeking to censor right-wing opinions. Brussels denies this.
The official has been in conflict with the billionaire entrepreneur, the world's richest man, over requirements to follow EU rules.
EU regulators imposed a penalty on X €120m over its blue tick badges – the first fine under the DSA. Regulators stated the platform's system was "misleading" because the firm was not "meaningfully verifying users".
As a countermove, Musk's site blocked the Commission from running advertisements on its platform.
Reactions and Broader Bans
Reacting to the visa ban, the former commissioner wrote on X: "Addressing the US: Speech suppression does not lie where you think it is."
Another listed individual, who leads the UK-based Global Disinformation Index (GDI), was included in the sanctions.
A senior US diplomat Sarah B Rogers alleged the GDI of using US taxpayer money "to encourage censorship and blacklisting of American speech and media".
A GDI spokesperson said the entry bans as "an authoritarian attack on free expression and a blatant example of state-led suppression".
"Their actions today are immoral, illegal, and un-American," the spokesperson added.
Another figure of the an online hate watchdog, a non-governmental organization that combats online hate and false information, was also handed a ban.
The undersecretary labeled Mr Ahmed a "primary partner with campaigns to misuse the state apparatus against US citizens".
Additionally facing restrictions were Anna-Lena von Hodenberg and Josephine Ballon of HateAid, which the US officials said aided in implementing the DSA.
Responding, the two CEOs called it an "attempt to silence by a administration that is showing disregard for the rule of law".
"We refuse to be silenced by a state that uses claims of suppression to silence those who defend fundamental freedoms," they added.
Official Rationale
Rubio said that steps had been taken to impose entry bans on "representatives of the global censorship-industrial complex" who would be "generally barred from entering the United States".
"The administration has been clear that his national sovereignty diplomatic stance rejects violations of American sovereignty. Extraterritorial overreach by foreign censors targeting American speech is unacceptable," he added.
