By Jennifer Hansler, CNN
(CNN) — The US State Department on Tuesday imposed visa sanctions on a former top European Union official and employees of organizations that combat disinformation for alleged censorship – sharply ratcheting up the Trump administration’s fight against European regulations that have impacted digital platforms, far-right politicians and Trump allies, including Elon Musk.
In a statement, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio accused the five sanctioned people of leading “organized efforts to coerce American platforms to censor, demonetize, and suppress American viewpoints they oppose.”
Top Trump administration officials have repeatedly condemned European nations for alleged censorship, and the latest State Department human rights report alleged “significant human rights issues” in allies like the United Kingdom, France, and Germany over “serious restrictions on freedom of expression.”
Among those sanctioned Tuesday are Thierry Breton, a former European commissioner involved in the Digital Services Act (DSA), a sweeping EU law that requires Big Tech platforms to take meaningful steps to reduce illegal and harmful content.
In a social media post on Tuesday, Breton questioned: “Is McCarthy’s witch hunt back?”, referencing the late senator’s Cold-War era inquisition of alleged communists who he claimed had infiltrated American government institutions.
“To our American friends: ‘Censorship isn’t where you think it is,’” he said on X.
The State Department also targeted the CEO of the Center for Countering Digital Hate, Imran Ahmed. The organization says it “works to stop the spread of online hate and disinformation through innovative research, public campaigns and policy advocacy.”
Clare Melford, the CEO of the Global Disinformation Index, was also sanctioned. The organization describes itself as working to strengthen “the systems that make the internet safer by working with governments, industry, and civil society.”
In a statement to CNN a spokesperson for GDI said that the sanctions amounted to an “authoritarian attack on free speech and an egregious act of government censorship.”
“The Trump Administration is, once again, using the full weight of the federal government to intimidate, censor, and silence voices they disagree with,” the spokesperson said. “Their actions today are immoral, unlawful, and un-American.”
Two employees of the German organization HateAid were also sanctioned.
CNN reached out to the Center for Countering Digital Hate and HateAid but did not immediately receive a reply.
Rubio’s statement said that for the five sanctioned people, he had “determined that their entry, presence, or activities in the United States have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States.”
“These radical activists and weaponized NGOs have advanced censorship crackdowns by foreign states—in each case targeting American speakers and American companies,” he said.
The top US diplomat said that “based on these determinations,” the State 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, the Department of Homeland Security “can initiate removal proceedings against certain individuals … which renders such individuals deportable,” he said.
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