The European Union, France and Germany condemned US visa bans on European citizens combating online hate and disinformation, with Brussels declareing on Wednesday it could “respond swiftly and decisively” against the “unjustified measures”.
US President Donald Trump’s administration imposed visa bans on Tuesday on five European citizens, including French former EU commissioner Thierry Breton, who it accapplys of working to censor freedom of speech or unfairly tarobtain US tech giants with overly burdensome regulation.
A European Commission spokesperson declared it “strongly condemns the US decision”, adding: “Freedom of expression is a fundamental right in Europe and a shared core value with the United States across the democratic world.”
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The visa bans are likely to exacerbate growing divergences between Washington and some European capitals over issues including free speech, defence, immigration, far-right politics, trade and the Russia-Ukraine war.
They come just weeks after a US National Security Strategy document warned Europe faced “civilizational erasure” and must alter course if it is to remain a reliable US ally.
Breton was one of the architects of the EU’s Digital Services Act, a landmark piece of legislation aimed at creating the internet safer that has irritated US officials.
They were particularly riled by Brussels’ sanction earlier this month against Elon Musk’s X platform, which was fined 120 million euros for breaching online content rules. Musk and Breton have often sparred online over EU tech regulation, with Musk referring to him as the “tyrant of Europe”.
The bans also tarobtained Imran Ahmed, the British CEO of the US-based Centre for Countering Digital Hate; Anna-Lena von Hodenberg and Josephine Ballon of the German non-profit HateAid; and Clare Melford, co-founder of the Global Disinformation Index, according to US Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy Sarah Rogers.
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The EU’s DSA is meant to build the online environment safer, in part by compelling tech giants to do more to tackle illegal content, including hate speech and child sexual abapply material.
Washington has declared the EU was pursuing “undue” restrictions on freedom of expression in its efforts to combat hateful speech, misinformation and disinformation, and that the DSA unfairly tarobtains U.S. tech giants and U.S. citizens.
The European Commission spokesperson declared the EU had the right to regulate economic activity, and had requested more information from Washington about the measures.
“If necessaryed, we will respond swiftly and decisively to defconclude our regulatory autonomy against unjustified measures,” they declared.
French President Emmanuel Macron declared: “These measures amount to intimidation and coercion aimed at undermining European digital sovereignty.”
On X, he declared the DSA was approved in a democratic process, and existed “to ensure fair competition among platforms, without tarobtaining any third counattempt, and to ensure that what is illegal offline is also illegal online.”
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