‘We don’t want you in America’ is the message that the US government has sent to five prominent Europeans. The ‘visa ban’ was announced by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, accusing them of being involved in online censorship of Americans. Trump officials have reportedly ordered the US diplomats to build opposition to the European Union’s Digital Services Act (DSA), which is said to be aimed to combat hateful speech, misinformation and disinformation, but which Washington says stifles free speech and imposes costs on American tech companies. The visa bans come after the US administration’s National Security Strategy this month said that European leaders were censoring free speech and suppressing opposition to immigration policies that it said risk “civilisational erasure” for the continent.
Names of five Europeans who are banned from entering United Stares of America
* Thierry Breton, who served as the European commissioner for the internal market from 2019-2024. He is said to be the architect of DSA* Imran Ahmed, the British CEO of the U.S.-based Center for Countering Digital Hate* Anna-Lena von Hodenberg* Josephine Ballon of the German nonprofit HateAid* Clare Melford, co-founder of the Global Disinformation Index (GDI)
What the US State Department order says
The State Department is taking decisive action against five individuals who have led organized efforts to coerce American platforms to censor, demonetize, and suppress American viewpoints they oppose. These radical activists and weaponized NGOs have advanced censorship crackdowns by foreign states—in each case targeting American speakers and American companies. As such, I have determined that their entry, presence, or activities in the United States have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States. Based on these determinations, the Department has taken steps to impose visa restrictions on agents of the global censorship-industrial complex who, as a result, will be generally barred from entering the United States. Further, based on the foreign policy determination, the Department of Homeland Security can initiate removal proceedings against certain individuals pursuant to INA section 237(a)(4)(C), which renders such individuals deportable. President Trump has been clear that his America First foreign policy rejects violations of American sovereignty. Extraterritorial overreach by foreign censors targeting American speech is no exception. The State Department stands ready and willing to expand today’s list if other foreign actors do not reverse course.These actions are pursuant to Section 212(a)(3)(C) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which renders inadmissible any alien whose entry into the Unites States the Secretary of State determines “would have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States.” Certain family members may also be covered by these restrictions. In addition, Section 237(a)(4)(C) of the Immigration and Nationality Act renders an alien deportable from the United States if the Secretary of State has reasonable grounds to believe the alien’s presence or activities in the United States would have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences.
What is Europe’s Digital Services Act
Digital Services Act (DSA) came into effect in 2022. It requires large online platforms to pay a fee — up to 0.05% of their annual global net income — to help fund the European Commission’s work overseeing their compliance with digital rules. American companies including Google, Meta and X have criticised DSA. Elon Musk’s X is the first company to be penalised under DSA that allows fines up to 6% of global annual revenue for violations. Earlier this month, European Union slapped Elon Musk’s X platform with $140 million penalty for violating transparency rules.
