US Denies Visas to Ex-EU Commissioner and Others Regarding Social Media Rules
The US State Department stated it would refuse entry permits to five individuals, including a ex-European Union official, for allegedly seeking to "pressure" US-based social media platforms into curtailing opinions they oppose.
"These radical activists and weaponized NGOs have promoted censorship crackdowns by other governments - in each case focusing on American speakers and US firms," stated Secretary of State the official.
Thierry Breton implied that a "targeted campaign" was taking place.
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, it has angered some US conservatives who view it as seeking to censor right-wing opinions. EU authorities rejects this characterization.
The official has been in conflict with the billionaire entrepreneur, the world's richest man, over obligations to follow EU rules.
EU regulators recently fined X 120 million euros over its blue tick badges – the first fine under the DSA. Regulators stated the platform's system was "deceptive" because the firm was not "meaningfully verifying users".
As a countermove, the platform blocked the Commission from running advertisements on its platform.
Responses and Additional Restrictions
Responding to the entry restriction, the former commissioner wrote on X: "To our American friends: Speech suppression does not lie where you think it is."
Clare Melford, who leads the British Global Disinformation Index (GDI), was also listed.
US Undersecretary of State Sarah B Rogers alleged the GDI of using American public funds "to exhort suppression and blacklisting of US expression and media".
A GDI spokesperson characterized the entry bans as "an authoritarian attack on free speech and an egregious act of state-led suppression".
"These measures today are unethical, illegal, and un-American," they stated.
Imran Ahmed of the an online hate watchdog, a nonprofit that combats digital hatred and misinformation, was similarly issued a ban.
The undersecretary labeled Mr Ahmed a "primary partner with efforts to weaponize the state apparatus against American people".
Also subject to bans were two executives of a German organization, which the State Department said aided in implementing the DSA.
In a statement, the two leaders called it an "act of repression by a government that is showing disregard for the rule of law".
"We will not be intimidated by a government that uses claims of suppression to muzzle those who defend fundamental freedoms," they concluded.
Official Rationale
The Secretary of State stated that steps had been taken to impose entry bans on "representatives of the international suppression network" who would be "typically prohibited from entering the United States".
"The administration has been explicit that his national sovereignty foreign policy rejects violations of US autonomy. Extraterritorial overreach by foreign censors aimed at American speech is unacceptable," he affirmed.
