US bans former EU commissioner and others over social media rules

The Trump administration has issued travel bans barring five European technology researchers, including a former European commissioner, from entering the United States. “For too long, ideologues in Europe have led organized efforts to coerce American platforms into punishing American viewpoints to which they oppose. The Trump administration will no longer tolerate these blatant acts of extraterritorial censorship,” said US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

This official is Thierry Bretonthe former European Commissioner for the Internal Market and Digital Services, Sarah Rogers called the “brains” of the Digital Services Act. Rogers, the deputy secretary of state, said Breton threatened Elon Musk over an ongoing formal proceeding over X’s failure to comply with “unlawful content” and “disinformation” under the DSA just before his meeting with President Trump. The administration also banned Imran Ahmed from Digital Hate Center (CCDH), which apparently called for the withdrawal of American anti-vaccines. One of these people is Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., who is now the United States Secretary of Health.

Clare Melford of the UK-based Global Disinformation Index was also banned. His group monitors online platforms for hate speech. Anna-Lena von Hodenberg and Joséphine Ballon, from the German organization HateAid, were also banned. HateAid reports online hate speech against the EU in accordance with DSA rules.

As The New York Times As the report notes, these travel bans underscore the administration’s close relationship with internet and technology companies, which would benefit from relaxing or abolishing DSA rules. The Global Disinformation Index called the travel bans “an authoritarian attack on free speech and a blatant act of government censorship.” Meanwhile, von Hodenberg and Ballon said the bans marked a new escalation. “The US government is clearly questioning European sovereignty,” they said.