US Rejects Visas to Ex-EU Commissioner and Additional Figures Regarding Social Media Regulations
The US State Department announced it would refuse entry permits to a group of five people, including a former EU commissioner, for allegedly seeking to "force" US-based online companies into curtailing opinions they disagree with.
"These individuals and aggressive non-profits have advanced suppression campaigns by foreign states - in each case targeting American speakers and US firms," stated Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
The former European tech regulator suggested that a "targeted campaign" was taking place.
Breton was described as the "architect" of the EU's Digital Services Act (DSA), which mandates content moderation on digital platforms.
A Contentious Law
However, it has angered certain right-leaning Americans who view it as seeking to censor conservative viewpoints. Brussels denies this.
The official has been in conflict with the billionaire entrepreneur, owner of platform X, over obligations to follow European regulations.
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 "deceptive" because the firm was not "meaningfully verifying users".
As a countermove, the platform blocked the Commission from making adverts on its platform.
Responses and Additional Restrictions
Reacting to the entry restriction, 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 disinformation research group, was included in the sanctions.
US Undersecretary of State the official alleged the GDI of using American public funds "to exhort suppression and blacklisting of American speech and media".
A GDI spokesperson said the entry bans as "an authoritarian attack on free speech and an egregious act of state-led suppression".
"These measures today are immoral, unlawful, and un-American," the spokesperson added.
Another figure of the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), a nonprofit that fights digital hatred and misinformation, was also handed a ban.
Rogers called Mr Ahmed a "primary partner with campaigns to weaponize the government against American people".
Additionally facing restrictions were Anna-Lena von Hodenberg and Josephine Ballon of HateAid, which the State Department said aided in implementing the DSA.
In a statement, the two CEOs described it as an "act of repression by a government that is increasingly disregarding the legal principles".
"We will not be intimidated by a government that uses claims of suppression to silence those who defend fundamental freedoms," they added.
Official Rationale
Rubio said that action was initiated to enact visa restrictions on "agents of the global censorship-industrial complex" who would be "generally barred from entering the United States".
"President Trump has been clear that his national sovereignty diplomatic stance rejects infringements of American sovereignty. Foreign-imposed regulations by foreign censors aimed at US expression is no exception," he added.