The United States has announced sanctions against five European figures advocating for stricter regulation of the technology sector, including former European Commissioner Thierry Breton, who has been banned from entering the country. The State Department justified the measures by stating that their actions amount to "censorship" and are harmful to American interests.
“These radical activists and the NGOs they serve as lobbyists have promoted repressive censorship measures targeting American companies,” the State Department said in a statement announcing the sanctions.
Breton has frequently clashed with tech moguls like Elon Musk over compliance with EU regulations: he has been described by the State Department as the "mastermind" of the Digital Services Act, a major European law imposing content moderation and data protection standards on major social media platforms. American conservatives, however, view it as "a tool of censorship against right-wing thought in Europe and beyond," an accusation the EU firmly rejects. Others targeted by US sanctions include Anna-Lena von Hodenberg and Josephine Ballon of HateAid, a German NGO; Clare Melford, head of the UK-based Global Disinformation Index; and Imran Ahmed of the London-based Center for Countering Digital Hate .
"Is McCarthy's witch hunt back?" Breton writes on X. "Remember that 90% of the European Parliament, our democratically elected body, and all 27 member states unanimously voted for the Digital Services Act," he adds. "To our American friends: censorship is not where you think it is."
The first country to comment on the US measure was France, which denounced "in the strongest possible terms" the sanctions against "five prominent European figures committed to rigorous regulation of the technology sector and the fight against online disinformation." France, declared French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot, "condemns in the strongest terms the visa restrictions imposed by the US on Thierry Breton, former European Minister and Commissioner, and four other prominent European figures."
