US Refuses Visas to Ex-EU Commissioner and Others Regarding Social Media Rules
American diplomatic officials stated it would deny visas to a group of five people, including a former EU commissioner, for allegedly seeking to "coerce" American social media platforms into silencing perspectives they oppose.
"These radical activists and weaponized NGOs have advanced suppression campaigns by other governments - in each case targeting American speakers and American companies," remarked Secretary of State the official.
Thierry Breton suggested that a "targeted campaign" was underway.
Breton was described as the "mastermind" of the EU's Digital Services Act (DSA), which mandates content moderation on digital platforms.
A Divisive Regulation
However, it has angered some US conservatives who see it as an attempt to silence conservative viewpoints. EU authorities rejects this characterization.
The official has been in conflict with Elon Musk, owner of platform X, over requirements to follow European regulations.
The European Commission recently fined 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".
In response, Musk's site prevented the Commission from making adverts on its platform.
Responses and Additional Restrictions
Reacting to the entry restriction, Breton posted on X: "To our American friends: Speech suppression does not lie where you think it is."
Clare Melford, who leads the British Global Disinformation Index (GDI), was also listed.
A senior US diplomat the official accused the GDI of using US taxpayer money "to exhort censorship and blacklisting of American speech and press".
A representative for the group said the entry bans as "a repressive move on free expression and an egregious act of state-led suppression".
"These measures today are unethical, illegal, and un-American," the spokesperson added.
Another figure of the an online hate watchdog, a non-governmental organization that fights online hate and false information, was also handed a ban.
The undersecretary labeled Mr Ahmed a "key collaborator with campaigns to misuse the state apparatus against US citizens".
Also subject to bans were two executives of a German organization, which the State Department said aided in implementing the DSA.
In a statement, the two CEOs called it an "act of repression by a administration that is showing disregard for the legal principles".
"We refuse to be silenced by a government that uses accusations of censorship to silence those who stand up for human rights," they concluded.
Policy Justification
Rubio said that action was initiated to enact entry bans on "agents 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 foreign policy opposes infringements of American sovereignty. Foreign-imposed regulations by foreign censors aimed at American speech is unacceptable," he added.
