The European Commission condemns the decision of the US to impose travel restrictions on five European citizens, including former European Commissioner, Tierry Breton.

As the Commission stresses in a statement, it is seeking clarifications from the US authorities and remains in contact with them, and if necessary will not hesitate to react against these “unjustified measures”(sic).

Sanctions imposed on five people in Europe

The US announced yesterday (Tuesday) the imposition of sanctions on five people in Europe who support controversial policies that the EU calls “stricter regulation of digital services”. The sanctions include a ban on entry, residence and all activity in the US, led by French former commissioner Thierry Breton.

The State Department justified the decision by saying the actions of these individuals were aimed at imposing censorship against U.S. interests.

The other four sanctioned individuals are executives of non-governmental organisations fighting “against disinformation and hate speech online”: Imran Ahmed, Claire Melford, Anna-Lena von Hodenberg, founder of the German HateAid, and Josephine Balon, CEO of the same NGO.

The sanctions are being imposed in retaliation for efforts in EU to tighten regulations on digital platforms, which the US government calls censorship.

According to Marco Rubio, the European effort aims to “punish” US digital platforms and remove content that European officials disagree with.

“For far too long, ‘ideologues’ in Europe have been conducting concerted efforts to force U.S. (digital) platforms to punish American views they oppose,” U.S. diplomatic chief Marco Rubio stated via X.

“The administration of (US President Donald) Trump will no longer tolerate such blatant acts of off-site censorship,” he added.