The United States Refuses Visas to Ex-EU Commissioner and Additional Figures Over Social Media Policies

The US State Department announced it would deny visas to five individuals, including a former EU commissioner, for reportedly seeking to "force" US-based online companies into curtailing viewpoints they oppose.

"These radical activists and aggressive non-profits have advanced censorship crackdowns by other governments - in each case targeting US voices and American companies," said US diplomat the official.

Thierry Breton suggested that a "witch hunt" was underway.

Breton was described as the "mastermind" of the EU's Digital Services Act (DSA), which mandates content moderation on social media firms.

A Divisive Regulation

Yet, the act has frustrated certain right-leaning Americans who see it as an attempt to silence conservative viewpoints. Brussels denies this.

Breton has clashed with Elon Musk, owner of platform X, over requirements to follow EU rules.

EU regulators recently fined X €120m over its blue tick badges – the first fine under the DSA. It said the platform's system was "misleading" because the firm was not "meaningfully verifying users".

In response, the platform prevented the Commission from making adverts on its platform.

Responses and Additional Restrictions

Reacting to the entry restriction, Breton posted on X: "Addressing the US: Censorship isn't where you think it is."

Clare Melford, who heads the UK-based Global Disinformation Index (GDI), was also listed.

A senior US diplomat the official alleged the GDI of using American public funds "to exhort censorship and blacklisting of US expression and press".

A GDI spokesperson said the entry bans as "an authoritarian attack on free expression and a blatant example of state-led suppression".

"These measures today are immoral, unlawful, and un-American," they stated.

Imran Ahmed of the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), a nonprofit that combats digital hatred and false information, was also handed a ban.

Rogers called Mr Ahmed a "primary partner with efforts to misuse the state apparatus against American people".

Also subject to bans were two executives of HateAid, which the US officials said aided in implementing the DSA.

Responding, the two CEOs called it an "attempt to silence by a administration that is showing disregard for the rule of law".

"We refuse to be silenced by a government that uses accusations of censorship to silence those who defend fundamental freedoms," they concluded.

Policy Justification

Rubio said that action was initiated to enact visa restrictions on "representatives of the international suppression network" who would be "generally barred from entering the United States".

"President Trump has been explicit that his America First foreign policy opposes infringements of American sovereignty. Extraterritorial overreach by overseas regulators targeting US expression is no exception," he added.