EU slams US travel bans on Europeans over tech regulations

BRUSSELS - The European Union (EU), French, German, and British senior officials on Wednesday strongly condemned a US decision to impose travel restrictions on five European individuals, including former European Commissioner Thierry Breton.

Alleging their involvement in content censorship on US social media platforms, the US State Department on Tuesday issued visa restrictions on Breton, Imran Ahmed, a British citizen and chief executive of the US-based Center for Countering Digital Hate, Anna-Lena von Hodenberg and Josephine Ballon from the German non-profit organization HateAid, and Clare Melford, a co-founder of the Global Disinformation Index.

US Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy Sarah Rogers has described Breton, who left the European Commission in 2024, as "a mastermind" of the EU Digital Services Act (DSA).

In response, the EU warned that it would act "swiftly and decisively" to defend the bloc's regulatory autonomy if needed. "Freedom of expression is a fundamental right in Europe and a shared core value with the United States across the democratic world," a Commission spokesperson said in an attributable response to Xinhua.

The spokesperson stressed that the EU retains the sovereign right to regulate economic activity in line with its democratic values and international commitments.

The EU's digital rules are designed to ensure "a safe, fair, and level playing field for all companies," and are applied fairly and without discrimination, the spokesperson said, adding that the Commission has requested clarifications from US authorities and remains engaged.

Stephane Sejourne, the executive vice president and European Commissioner for Industrial Strategy, strongly defended Breton, calling him a prominent driver of the DSA framework.

Vowing to press ahead with online content scrutiny, Sejourne said in a post on social platform X, "No sanction will silence the sovereignty of the European peoples."

Other European countries also backed the EU on the tech regulations. "These measures amount to intimidation and coercion aimed at undermining European digital sovereignty," French President Emmanuel Macron said on his X account.

"The rules governing the European Union's digital space are not meant to be determined outside Europe. Together with the European Commission and our European partners, we will continue to defend our digital sovereignty and regulatory autonomy," Macron added.

Also on X, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said that the DSA has no extraterritorial reach and does not affect the United States.

In his post on X, German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul described the US entry bans as "not acceptable." "The DSA was democratically adopted by the EU, for the EU - it does not have extraterritorial effect," he added.

The British government defended the right to free speech. "While every country has the right to set its own visa rules, we support the laws and institutions that are working to keep the internet free from the most harmful content," a government spokesperson said in a statement.

According to reports by the Guardian, British Senior Labour Member of Parliament Chi Onwurah accused the Trump administration of undermining free speech hours after the US visa ban announcement.

"Banning people because you disagree with what they say undermines the free speech the administration claims to seek... Banning him (Imran Ahmed) won't shut down the debate, too many people are being harmed by the spread of digital hate," said Onwurah, who is the chair of the Science, Innovation and Technology committee in the British parliament.

Breton also asked in his post on X "Is McCarthy's witch hunt back?" He stressed that 90 percent of the European Parliament, the EU's democratically elected body, along with all 27 member states, voted in favor of the DSA.

Since Brussels stepped up enforcement of the DSA, which entered into force on Nov 16, 2022, Washington has voiced opposition to the regulation designed to tackle hate speech, misinformation, and disinformation. It argued that the legislation restricts free expression and places additional compliance burdens on US technology companies.

On Dec 5, the European Commission issued its first non-compliance decision under the act, fining US social media X 120 million euros (about 141.6 million US dollars) for the deceptive design of its blue checkmark, a lack of transparency in its advertising repository, and failing to provide researchers with access to public data.