US targets former EU commissioner, activists with visa bans over alleged censorship

WASHINGTON - The Trump administration on Dec 23 imposed visa bans on a former European Union commissioner and anti-disinformation campaigners it says were involved in censoring US social media platforms, in the latest move in a campaign aimed at European rules that US officials say go beyond legitimate regulation.

Trump officials have ordered US diplomats to build opposition to the European Union’s landmark Digital Services Act (DSA), which is intended to combat hateful speech, misinformation and disinformation, but which Washington says stifles free speech and imposes costs on US tech companies.

The visa bans come after the administration’s National Security Strategy in December said European leaders were censoring free speech and suppressing opposition to immigration policies that it said risk “civilisational erasure” for the continent.

Five people targeted

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the five people targeted with visa bans “have led organised efforts to coerce American platforms to censor, demonetise, and suppress American viewpoints they oppose”.

“These radical activists and weaponised NGOs (non-governmental organisations) have advanced censorship crackdowns by foreign states – in each case targeting American speakers and American companies,” Mr Rubio said in an announcement.

Mr Rubio did not name those targeted, but Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy Sarah Rogers identified them on X, accusing the individuals of “fomenting censorship of American speech”.

The most high-profile target was French former business executive Thierry Breton, who served as the European commissioner for the internal market from 2019-2024.

Mr Rogers called Breton “a mastermind” of the DSA and said he once threatened Trump ally and X owner Elon Musk ahead of an interview Mr Musk conducted with Mr Trump. Reuters was unable to immediately reach Breton for comment.

Reuters reported in August that US officials were considering sanctions on officials responsible for the DSA.

“Harmful content”

The visa bans also hit Mr Imran Ahmed, the British CEO of the US-based Center for Countering Digital Hate; and Ms Anna-Lena von Hodenberg and Ms Josephine Ballon of the German non-profit HateAid; and Ms Clare Melford, co-founder of the Global Disinformation Index (GDI), Mr Rogers said.

A spokesperson for GDI called the US action “immoral, unlawful, and un-American” and “an authoritarian attack on free speech and an egregious act of government censorship”.

Mr Rogers said Ms Melford falsely labelled online comments as hate speech or disinformation and used US taxpayers’ money to “exhort censorship and blacklisting of American speech and press”.

The other organisations did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Ms Melford, a former management consultant and TV executive, said in a video posted online in 2024 that she co-founded the GDI “to try to break the business model of harmful online content” by reviewing online news websites to allow advertisers to “choose whether or not they want to fund content that is polarising and divisive and harmful, or whether they want to steer their advertising back towards more quality journalism”. REUTERS