Trump admin bars 5 Europeans its says pressed tech platforms to "censor" U.S. views

The Trump administration imposed visa restrictions Tuesday on five Europeans the State Department accused of leading "efforts to coerce American platforms to censor" or "suppress" U.S. viewpoints they oppose.The big picture: Among those now barred from entering the U.S. is former EU Commissioner Thierry Breton, whom under secretary of state for public diplomacy Sarah Rogers on X called "a mastermind of the Digital Services Act," which imposes requirements on social media platforms, including content moderation.The former top EC tech regulator clashed with Elon Musk over complying with European Union rules.Breton, who served in the late conservative French President Jacques Chirac's government, suggested on the world's richest person's platform X that the Trump administration's action was a "witch hunt." Screenshot: Thierry Breton/XState of play: The European Commission announced earlier this month it had issued X with a fine of €120 million ($141 million), its first penalty under the DSA. X responded by shutting down the EC's ad account.Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement Tuesday the five Europeans were "radical activists" who had "weaponized NGOs have advanced censorship crackdowns by foreign states."He said in each case they had targeted American speakers and U.S. companies. Zoom in: Rubio didn't name the individuals affected by the ban, but Rogers did in a series of X posts.The others Rogers named were: Imran Ahmed, chief executive of the Center for Countering Digital Hate, whom Musk sued in 2023 after it documented hate speech on X; Clare Melford, who leads the U.K.-based Global Disinformation Index; and Josephine Ballon and Anna-Lena von Hodenberg, leaders of German nonprofit HateAid.