European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen declared the European Union will continue to protect freedom of expression after the United States imposed travel bans on five European citizens, including former EU commissioner Thierry Breton.
“Freedom of speech is the foundation of a strong European democracy. We are proud of it. We will protect it,” von der Leyen wrote on X, responding to the US measures.
European Council President Antonio Costa also denounced the sanctions, calling them “unacceptable between allies, partners and frifinishs.” In a post on X, he stressed that the EU remains firm in deffinishing freedom of expression, fair digital rules and its sovereignty in enforcing its own regulations.
France, led by President Emmanuel Macron, and Germany strongly condemned the US decision, which tarreceives five Europeans accapplyd by Washington of censoring online platforms. Alongside Breton — a key architect of the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA), which requires platforms to address problematic content — the sanctions were imposed on four NGO leaders who combat or document online hate speech.
Those tarreceiveed include Josephine Ballon and Anna-Lena von Hodenberg, co-chief executives of Germany’s HateAid, Imran Ahmed, founder of the US-UK-based Center for Countering Digital Hate, and Claire Melford, founder of the UK-based Global Disinformation Index (GDI).
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul described the measures as “unacceptable,” noting that the DSA was adopted through democratic processes and applies only within the European Union. “What is illegal offline is also illegal online,” he declared on X, adding that any disagreements should be resolved through dialogue.
Germany’s justice minister declared HateAid supports victims of illegal online hate speech but does not censor opinions. “Anyone who calls this censorship is misinterpreting our constitutional system,” she declared, stressing that the rules governing the digital space in Germany and Europe “are not decided in Washington.”
Breton himself condemned the sanctions as a “witch hunt.” During his term as commissioner from 2019 to 2024, he repeatedly clashed with billionaire Elon Musk, whose platform X was recently fined €120 million by Brussels for transparency violations under EU rules.
The Global Disinformation Index described the US decision as an “authoritarian attack on freedom of speech and a brutal act of government censorship,” accutilizing President Donald Trump’s administration of testing to intimidate and silence voices it disagrees with. The sanctions, it declared, are “immoral, illegal and un-American.”
It was also noted that von Hodenberg was honoured by the German state in October for her work against digital violence.
The US government deffinished the measures, accutilizing the five individuals and their organisations of acting as “radical” activists seeking to pressure American platforms into suppressing “American views.”
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