Brussels condemned a new round of U.S. visa bans on European figures involved in combating online hate and disinformation, calling the move unjustified and warning the European Union could respond swiftly to defend its regulatory autonomy. France and Germany joined the EU in denouncing the restrictions, which target five Europeans, including former EU commissioner Thierry Breton, over alleged efforts to curb free speech and impose burdensome regulation on U.S. tech companies.
The decision, announced by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump, bars entry to Breton — a chief architect of the EU’s Digital Services Act — as well as Imran Ahmed, the British CEO of the U.S.-based Center 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. U.S. Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy Sarah Rogers said the five were involved in censoring speech or unfairly targeting U.S. platforms.
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The European Commission said it “strongly condemns the U.S. decision,” stressing that freedom of expression is a fundamental right shared across the democratic world. The Commission added that the EU has the right to regulate economic activity and has sought more information from Washington about the measures. “If needed, we will respond swiftly and decisively to defend our regulatory autonomy against unjustified measures,” a spokesperson said.
At the center of the dispute is the EU’s Digital Services Act, a landmark law aimed at making the internet safer by compelling large platforms to do more against illegal content, including hate speech and child sexual abuse material. U.S. officials have argued the DSA imposes “undue” restrictions on expression and disproportionately affects American tech giants and U.S. citizens.
French President Emmanuel Macron said the bans amounted to “intimidation and coercion” designed to undermine Europe’s digital sovereignty. He noted the DSA was passed through a democratic process to ensure fair competition among platforms and to align online rules with offline law.
Germany’s justice ministry called the U.S. decision “unacceptable,” offering support and solidarity to the two affected German activists. It said HateAid assists people targeted by unlawful digital hate speech and rejected the censorship label. “Anyone who describes this as censorship is misrepresenting our constitutional system,” the ministry said, adding that digital rules in Germany and Europe “are not decided in Washington.”
The transatlantic clash follows growing friction over platform governance. Earlier this month, Brussels fined Elon Musk’s X €120 million for violating EU content rules — a penalty that further angered U.S. officials. Musk and Breton have repeatedly sparred online, with Musk calling the former commissioner the “tyrant of Europe.” Breton, a former French finance minister and EU internal market chief from 2019 to 2024, responded to the visa ban by asking, “Is McCarthy’s witch hunt back?” He noted that the DSA was approved by about 90% of the European Parliament and unanimously by all 27 member states.
The Global Disinformation Index called the visa bans “an authoritarian attack on free speech and an egregious act of government censorship,” accusing the Trump administration of using federal power to “intimidate, censor, and silence voices they disagree with.” The Center for Countering Digital Hate and HateAid are among the most prominent groups pressing platforms to address online abuse and falsehoods.
The escalation underscores widening policy divides between Washington and several European capitals over free speech, tech regulation, trade, security and the war in Ukraine. It also continues a pattern of U.S. sanctions against European legal and regulatory figures: in August, Washington sanctioned French judge Nicolas Yann Guillou of the International Criminal Court over the tribunal’s actions targeting Israeli leaders and a prior decision to investigate U.S. officials.
The European Commission said it is awaiting details from the United States on the legal basis and scope of the visa bans and reiterated that the EU would act to protect its laws and institutions if necessary.
By Abdiwahab Ahmed
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
