EU vs tech giants

US imposes visa ban on five Europeans: “Radicals”

The Trump administration has decided to impose a visa ban on five Europeans, including former EU Commissioner Thierry Breton, Reuters reports.

The Europeans are accused of trying to influence US tech companies to censor or prevent the spread of American positions. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has called them “radical activists”.

Breton is being singled out for his work on the EU’s Digital Services Act. The other four are Imran Ahmed, who heads a think tank against online hate, Josephine Ballon and Anna-Lena von Hodenberg from the independent German organisation Hateaid, and Clare Melford, who heads the organisation Global Disinformation Index.

EU slams US travel ban: “Cannot silence the people of Europe”

Both the EU and the French government have sharply criticized Washington’s decision to ban five European citizens – including former EU Commissioner Thierry Breton – from entering the United States.

A spokesman for the European Commission says that if necessary, the Union will “respond swiftly and decisively to defend our legislative independence against unjust measures,” Reuters reports.

In a post on X, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot writes that France “condemns in the strongest terms” the US travel ban and continues:

“No sanctions will silence the sovereignty of the European people.”

Breton himself also criticizes the ban. In his own post on X, he wonders if the “McCarthy witch hunt” is back, referring to Senator Joseph McCarthy’s persecution of political opponents in the United States in the 1950s.

The origin of the American ban is the EU's Digital Services Act, which has fined Elon Musk's X, among other things. The US has singled out Breton as the main architect behind the legislation.

Analysis: The US has fired the first shot in a long war

The EU Commission's fine against Elon Musk's X may have "triggered" the US to impose visa bans on five Europeans, including former EU Commissioner Thierry Breton. This is according to SR's Roger Wilson.

He points out that all the Europeans concerned have worked to combat hate and disinformation online. Breton believes that the dispute over X's verification checks may have played a role, but says that it is about more than just the tech companies.

- This is another example of the strained relationship between the Trump administration and the countries that are actually US allies in Europe.

The Guardian's tech editor Dan Milmo writes that politicians in the Maga movement believe that the EU's tech regulations threaten the economic interests of American companies, and that they are not in line with their own view of freedom of expression.

He also mentions the fine for Elon Musk's platform.

"The visa ban is the latest shot in what will be a long-running conflict under the Trump administration."