French national Thierry Breton, former member of the European Commission and an architect of the EU’s landmark digital regulations, is one of five people to be denied visas to the US.
Four others working for non-governmental organizations that flag online disinformation and hate speech are also targeted.
“These radical activists and weaponized NGOs have advanced censorship crackdowns by foreign states – in each case targeting American speakers and American companies,” the State Department said in a statement announcing the sanctions on Tuesday.
It is the latest move by President Donald Trump’s administration to counter the European Union’s bid to monitor and moderate content on social media platforms, including US-owned Facebook, Instagram and X.
Washington claims that EU rules result in censorship of right-wing viewpoints in particular, something Brussels denies.
France “strongly condemns” the visa ban, said Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot.
“The peoples of Europe are free and sovereign and cannot have the rules applying to their digital space imposed on them by others,” he wrote in a post on X.
