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The European Union, France and Germany have condemned the US's declaration of "non grata" of several European citizens who fight hate and disinformation online. Brussels said on Wednesday it would "react quickly and decisively" against "unjustified measures".
The administration of US President Donald Trump on Tuesday imposed visa bans on five European citizens, including former French EU Commissioner Thierry Breton, whom it accuses of working to censor free speech or unfairly target American tech giants with overly burdensome regulations.
A European Commission spokesman said it "strongly condemns the US decision", adding: "freedom of expression is a fundamental right in Europe and a core value shared with the United States throughout the democratic world".
The visa bans are likely to exacerbate growing divergences between Washington and some European capitals on issues including free speech, defense, immigration, far-right politics, trade and the Russia-Ukraine war.
They come just weeks after a US National Security Strategy document warned that Europe faces "civilizational obliteration" and must change course if it wants to remain a reliable US ally.
Breton was one of the architects of the EU's Digital Services Act, a landmark piece of legislation aimed at making the internet safer and which has angered US officials.
They were particularly angered by Brussels' sanction earlier this month against Elon Musk's Platform X, which was fined 120 million euros for violating online content rules. Musk and Breton have often clashed on social media over EU tech regulation, with Musk calling him "the tyrant of Europe."
The bans also targeted Imran Ahmed, the British executive director of the US-based Center for Countering Digital Hate; Anna-Lena von Hodenberg and Josephine Ballon of the German nonprofit HateAid; and Clare Melford, co-founder of the Global Disinformation Index, according to US Undersecretary for Public Diplomacy Sarah Rogers.
The EU's DSA aims to make the online environment safer, in part by forcing tech giants to do more to combat illegal content, including hate speech and child sexual abuse material.
Washington has said the EU was pursuing "unnecessary" restrictions on freedom of expression in its efforts to combat hate speech, disinformation and that the DSA unfairly targets US tech giants and American citizens.
A European Commission spokesman said the EU had the right to regulate economic activity and had requested more information from Washington about the measures.
"If necessary, we will respond quickly and decisively to defend our regulatory autonomy against unjustified measures," they said.
French President Emmanuel Macron said that "these measures constitute intimidation and coercion aimed at undermining European digital sovereignty."
In X, he said the DSA was adopted in a democratic process and existed "to ensure fair competition between platforms, without targeting any third country, and to ensure that what is illegal offline is also illegal online." /Adapted from Reuters/
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