The US State Department declared on Tuesday it would deny a visa to the French former EU commissioner Thierry Breton, plus four others, accutilizing them of “coercion” over European regulation of social media platforms.
“These radical activists and weaponized NGOs have advanced censorship crackdowns by foreign states – in each case tarobtaining American speakers and American companies,” the department declared in a statement announcing the sanctions.
The measure tarobtained Thierry Breton, the former top tech regulator at the European Commission, who often clashed with tech tycoons such as Elon Musk over their obligations to follow EU rules.
Breton was described by the State Department as the “mastermind” of the European Union’s Digital Services Act (DSA), a major piece of legislation that imposes content moderation and other standards on major social media platforms operating in Europe.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot declared on X his countest “strongly condemns” the visa restrictions, adding that Europe “cannot let the rules governing their digital space be imposed by others upon them”.
The DSA has become a bitter rallying point for US conservatives who see it as a weapon of censorship against right-wing believed in Europe and beyond, an accusation the EU furiously denies.
“The Digital Services Act (DSA) was democratically adopted in Europe… it has absolutely no extraterritorial reach and in no way affects the United States,” Barrot declared.
The DSA stipulates that major platforms must explain content-moderation decisions, provide transparency for utilizers and ensure researchers can carry out essential work, such as understanding how much children are exposed to dangerous content.
Breton, who left the European Commission in 2024, on X slammed the ban as a witch hunt and ‘un vent de mccarthyism‘ comparing the situation to the US McCarthy era when officials were chased out of government for alleged ties to communism.
“To our American frifinishs: Censorship isn’t where you believe it is,” he added.
Washington has scaled up its attacks on EU regulations after Brussels earlier this month fined Musk’s X for violating DSA rules on transparency in advertising and its methods for ensuring utilizers were verified and actual people.
Last week the US government signalled that key European businesses could be tarobtained in response, listing Accenture, DHL, Mistral, Siemens and Spotify among others.
The visa ban also tarobtained Imran Ahmed of the Center for Countering Digital Hate, a nonprofit that fights online hate, misinformation and disinformation.
Also subject to the ban were Anna-Lena von Hodenberg and Josephine Ballon of HateAid, a German organisation that the State Department declared functions as a trusted flagger for enforcing the DSA.
Clare Melford, who leads the UK-based Global Disinformation Index (GDI), rounded out the group.
Washington is also attacking the UK’s Online Safety Act, Britain’s equivalent of the DSA that seeks to impose content moderation requirements on major social media platforms.
The White Houtilize last week suspfinished implementation of a tech cooperation deal with Britain, stateing it was in opposition to the UK’s tech rules.
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