The Trump administration has barred five Europeans from entering the U.S., accusing them of pressuring American tech companies to censor or suppress American speech online. The individuals–Thierry Breton, Imran Ahmed, Josephine Ballon, Anna-Lena von Hodenberg, and Clare Melford—are all leading figures in European efforts to regulate harmful or illegal content on social media platforms.
The five were barred under a May policy targeting foreign nationals deemed responsible for suppressing speech protected under U.S. law.
“For far too long, ideologues in Europe have led organized efforts to coerce American platforms to punish American viewpoints they oppose,” Rubio posted on X. “The Trump Administration will no longer tolerate these egregious acts of extraterritorial censorship.”
“We stand ready and willing to expand this list if others do not reverse course,” he added.
The E.U.’s Digital Services Act, which came into force across the European Union in 2023, appears to be a significant flashpoint for tensions. In a series of social media posts, Sarah Rogers, the under secretary of state for public diplomacy, referred to former European Commissioner for Internal Market Thierry Breton as the “mastermind” of the Digital Services Act.
The Act requires large online platforms like Meta’s Facebook and Elon Musk’s X to take greater responsibility for content posted on their services, mandating that companies remove illegal content such as hate speech and child sexual abuse imagery. It also prohibits platforms from targeting users with advertising based on sensitive personal data including race, religion, gender, or age, and bans targeting children with ads. And it requires platforms to be more transparent about their content moderation decisions and algorithmic recommendations.
Critics—particularly in the U.S. tech industry—have long claimed the act gives governments too much power to define what constitutes illegal speech and forces American companies to comply with European standards.
Rogers also accused Breton of using the act to “threaten” Elon Musk before an interview with President Trump. In response to the visa ban, Breton shared a message on X, stating: “To our American friends: Censorship isn’t where you think it is.”
Also banned were Von Hodenberg and Ballon of HateAid, a German organization that the State Department said helped enforce the DSA. In a joint statement shared with Fortune, they said: “We are not surprised. It is an act of repression by a government that is increasingly disregarding the rule of law and trying to silence its critics by any means necessary. This marks a new escalation: The US government is clearly questioning European sovereignty.”
“We will not be intimidated by a government that uses accusations of censorship to silence those who stand up for human rights and freedom of expression,” they added.
Melford, who leads the U.K.-based Global Disinformation Index (GDI) along with Ahmed, the CEO of the Center for Countering Digital Hate, a nonprofit that works to counter hate and misinformation online, were similarly handed bans.
A GDI Spokesperson told Fortune: “The visa sanctions announced today are an authoritarian attack on free speech and an egregious act of government censorship … GDI exists so that the public can understand and evaluate the information they find online. We fight speech with more speech. If only the federal government were brave enough to do the same.”
The move has also sparked a diplomatic backlash across Europe. German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said on X that the sanctions were “not acceptable.” French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot condemned the visa restrictions and defended the DSA, stating that it ensures “what is illegal offline is also illegal online.”
Emmanuel Macron, the President of France, said in a post on X that “France condemns the visa restriction measures taken by the United States against Thierry Breton and four other European figures.” He called the bans “intimidation and coercion aimed at undermining European digital sovereignty.”
The European Commission said in a statement that it had requested “clarifications” from the U.S. and warned: “If needed, we will respond swiftly and decisively to defend our regulatory autonomy against unjustified measures.”
Representatives for Breton and Ahmed did not immediately respond to Fortune’s request for comment.
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