BRUSSELS – The European Union, the United Kingdom, France, and Germany criticized a U.S. decision to impose travel bans on five Europeans this week. The State Department accuses them of influencing tech companies to censor “American viewpoints.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio banned a former top EU official. Additionally, he banned four high-profile activists who fight against hate speech and disinformation across social media.
Rubio described them as “radical” activists and “weaponized” nongovernmental organizations, accusing them of leading “organized efforts to coerce American platforms to censor, demonetize, and suppress American viewpoints they oppose.”
Thierry Breton, the former EU commissioner responsible for supervising social media regulations, is a part of the list. Breton, an entrepreneur and former French finance minister, had a run-in with Elon Musk last year. The clash took place on social media. It involved an online interview broadcast with President Donald Trump in the months leading up to the U.S. election.
“For far too long, ideologues in Europe have led organized efforts to coerce American platforms to punish American viewpoints they oppose. The Trump Administration will no longer tolerate these egregious acts of extraterritorial censorship,” Rubio wrote in an X post on Tuesday.
The European Commission responded to Rubio’s statement, saying that “the EU is an open, rules-based single market, with the sovereign right to regulate economic activity in line with our democratic values and international commitments.”
“Our digital rules ensure a safe, fair, and level playing field for all companies, applied fairly and without discrimination,” the Commission added.
Following the ban, The European Commission warned that it would act against any “unjustified measures,” requesting clarification from the U.S. State Department.
Subsequently, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul issued statements on X. EU Council President Antonio Costa followed suit.
“We will stand firm against pressure and will protect Europeans,” Macron emphasized.
Wadephul and Costa both shared similar views, calling the bans “unacceptable.”
The U.K. government additionally stepped in, commenting that “while every country has the right to set its own visa rules, we support the laws and institutions which are working the keep the Internet free from the more harmful content.”
