US Rejects Entry Permits to Ex-EU Commissioner and Others Over Online Platform Policies
The US State Department announced it would deny visas to five individuals, among them a former EU commissioner, for allegedly seeking to "pressure" US-based social media platforms into suppressing opinions they disagree with.
"These radical activists and weaponized NGOs have advanced suppression campaigns by other governments - in each case targeting US voices and American companies," stated Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
The former European tech regulator suggested that a "witch hunt" was underway.
Officials labeled Breton as the "mastermind" of the EU's Digital Services Act (DSA), which enforces speech regulations on social media firms.
A Divisive Regulation
However, the act has frustrated some US conservatives who view it as seeking to censor conservative viewpoints. EU authorities rejects this characterization.
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 120 million euros over its blue tick badges – the inaugural penalty under the DSA. It said the platform's system was "deceptive" because the firm was not "meaningfully verifying users".
In response, Musk's site blocked the Commission from running advertisements on its platform.
Reactions and Broader Bans
Responding to the visa ban, Breton posted on X: "To our American friends: Speech suppression isn't where you think it is."
Clare Melford, who leads the UK-based disinformation research group, was also listed.
A senior US diplomat the official accused the GDI of using American public funds "to exhort suppression and blacklisting of US expression and press".
A GDI spokesperson characterized the visa sanctions as "an authoritarian attack on free expression and a blatant example of government censorship".
"These measures today are unethical, unlawful, and un-American," the spokesperson added.
Another figure of the an online hate watchdog, a nonprofit that fights online hate and false information, was similarly issued a ban.
The undersecretary called Mr Ahmed a "primary partner with campaigns to weaponize the state apparatus against American people".
Also subject to bans were Anna-Lena von Hodenberg and Josephine Ballon of HateAid, which the State Department said helped enforce the DSA.
In a statement, the two leaders called it an "act of repression by a administration that is increasingly disregarding the legal principles".
"We refuse to be silenced by a government that uses accusations of censorship to muzzle those who defend fundamental freedoms," they concluded.
Official Rationale
Rubio said that steps had been taken to impose entry bans on "agents of the global censorship-industrial complex" who would be "typically prohibited from entering the United States".
"The administration has been clear that his national sovereignty diplomatic stance opposes violations of American sovereignty. Foreign-imposed regulations by overseas regulators aimed at American speech is no exception," he affirmed.
