Trump bans entry into the US of five Europeans accused of censoring American speech. Among them is former European Commissioner Thierry Breton
President Donald Trump is banning five “agents of the global industrial censorship complex” from entering the United States, writes The Daily Signal. The State Department has initiated steps to impose visa restrictions against five European citizens “whose entry, presence, or activity in the United States could have serious and adverse consequences for US foreign policy.”
Two of them, former European Commissioner Thierry Breton and Imran Ahmed, the executive director of the organization Center for Countering Digital Hate (a non-governmental organization that monitors and combats hate content and disinformation online, no), are targeted by deportation measures.
“Their conduct may be legal and even socially acceptable in the countries in which they operate,” according to a State Department document obtained by The Daily Signal. “But censorship is not welcome in our country.”
Thierry Breton called on Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk and Shou Zi Chew to combat “disinformation” about the Israel-Hamas war on their platforms under a European law called the Digital Services Act. For its part, the Imran Ahmed-led CCDH campaigned for the removal of some Trump administration officials from the platforms and for stricter oversight of online speech.
The chairman of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), appointed by Trump, has notified social media companies that they must not apply the Digital Services Act in the United States, as it would affect the freedom of expression of Americans.
“The State Department will not tolerate the extraterritorial excesses of foreign censors targeting Americans' free speech”
Following a foreign policy decision by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) can now initiate removal proceedings against individuals under the Immigration and Nationality Act, which “declares inadmissible any foreign national whose entry into the United States is determined by the Secretary of State to have the potential to have serious and adverse consequences for U.S. foreign policy.”
“President Trump is unequivocal: his America First foreign policy rejects any infringement of American sovereignty,” the document said.
“The State Department will not tolerate 'extraterritorial excesses by foreign censors targeting Americans' freedom of expression,'” the document states.
“Under the guise of fighting 'disinformation' and 'defending democracy,' foreign ideologues, some of them living in the United States, have led organized efforts to coerce American platforms to censor, demonetize, and silence American viewpoints they challenge,” the official continued. “And while the president's historic administration has rejected and cut funding for similar censorship initiatives domestically, these radical activists and instrumentalized NGOs have promoted repressive censorship measures by foreign states, in each case targeting American speakers and American companies.”
The State Department's measure does not apply to government officials in office.
The list of five people is indicative, not exhaustive, and the State Department is ready and willing to expand it if other foreign actors do not change their approach, the official said.
Certain family members of persons whose visas are revoked may also be subject to these restrictions.
In February, Vice President JD Vance told The Daily Signal that he was in discussions with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer about the UK's free speech abuses.
“We have special relationships with the United Kingdom, but also with our European civilian allies; at the same time, we know that there have been violations of freedom of expression that do not just affect the British,” he said.
“Of course, what the British do in their own country is their decision, but it also affects American technology companies and, by implication, American citizens,” he continued. “So that's a topic we're going to discuss today.”
