French President Emmanuel Macron and the European Union have accused the United States of “intimidation and coercion” after the Trump administration imposed visa bans on five European figures who played a key role in drafting the Digital Services Act (DSA).
Among them is former European Commissioner Thierry Breton. The EU has warned that it will defend its regulatory sovereignty. The visa bans were announced on Tuesday and include Thierry Breton as well as four anti-disinformation activists from Germany and the United Kingdom.
Washington claims that the DSA amounts to “censorship” and restricts freedom of expression, while the EU maintains that the law is designed to protect citizens from illegal content and hate speech.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated that the United States “will no longer tolerate censorship by Europe against American platforms.”
Meanwhile, Macron described the decision as “an attack on European digital sovereignty,” while French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said that Europe cannot allow its digital rules to be dictated from outside. The European Commission also warned that it would respond “swiftly and decisively” to any measures that undermine the EU’s regulatory autonomy.
Breton’s successor at the Commission, Stéphane Séjourné, expressed full solidarity.
The DSA requires platforms to act against illegal content and disinformation. The United States views this as a restriction on free speech and discrimination against American technology companies.
Recently, Elon Musk’s platform X was fined €120 million for violations of the rules. Germany’s Ministry of Justice called the decision “unacceptable” and defended the organization HateAid.
Members of the European Parliament such as Dennis Radtke and Raphaël Glucksmann described the U.S. decision as political rather than principled, calling for the protection of European interests. The move is widely seen as part of a deeper cultural and political clash between the United States and Europe over technology regulation, freedom of expression, and the digital role in the public sphere. /TCh.
