US Refuses Entry Permits to Ex-EU Commissioner and Additional Figures Concerning Social Media Policies
American diplomatic officials declared it would deny visas to a group of five people, among them a ex-European Union official, for allegedly seeking to "pressure" American social media platforms into silencing opinions they disagree with.
"These individuals and aggressive non-profits have promoted suppression campaigns by foreign states - in each case focusing on American speakers and American companies," stated US diplomat Marco Rubio.
Thierry Breton remarked that a "witch hunt" was occurring.
Breton was described as the "mastermind" of the European Union's online content law, which imposes content moderation on social media firms.
A Divisive Regulation
However, the act has frustrated some US conservatives who see it as seeking to censor conservative viewpoints. Brussels rejects this characterization.
Breton has clashed with the billionaire entrepreneur, owner of platform X, over obligations to follow European regulations.
The European Commission imposed a penalty on X €120m over its verification system – the inaugural penalty under the DSA. It said the platform's system was "misleading" because the firm was not "properly authenticating users".
As a countermove, the platform blocked the Commission from making adverts on its platform.
Responses and Additional Restrictions
Reacting to the visa ban, the former commissioner wrote on X: "Addressing the US: Censorship isn't where you think it is."
Clare Melford, who heads the British Global Disinformation Index (GDI), was included in the sanctions.
A senior US diplomat the official accused the GDI of using US taxpayer money "to exhort censorship and targeting of US expression and press".
A GDI spokesperson said the entry bans as "a repressive move on free expression and an egregious act of government censorship".
"Their actions 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 misinformation, was similarly issued a ban.
The undersecretary labeled Mr Ahmed a "key collaborator with efforts to misuse the government against US citizens".
Additionally facing restrictions were two executives of a German organization, which the State Department said helped enforce the DSA.
Responding, the two leaders called it an "act of repression by a administration that is showing disregard for the rule of law".
"We refuse to be silenced by a state that uses accusations of censorship to muzzle those who defend human rights," they concluded.
Official Rationale
Rubio said that steps had been taken to impose entry bans on "representatives of the global censorship-industrial complex" who would be "generally barred from entering the United States".
"The administration has been explicit that his national sovereignty foreign policy rejects violations of US autonomy. Extraterritorial overreach by overseas regulators targeting US expression is no exception," he added.
