Even before Donald Trump was elected president for the second time, he spoke with dismay about the regulation of social media and efforts to counter hate and disinformation on online platforms. Because that would be nothing less than censorship.
When Trump said in 2022 that “the censorship cartel must be dismantled and destroyed,” he was referring to major American technology companies such as Meta and Google and their bosses (“Silicon Valley tyrants”). Meanwhile, Big Tech has relaxed its rules for what can be said and written online, and drastically downsized the moderation departments that oversaw it. And now the European Union, with its extensive legal regulation of digital media, is having to pay the price.
Washington imposed sanctions on Tuesday evening against former European Commissioner Thierry Breton and four other Europeans linked to the fight against online hate and disinformation. This could prevent them and their family members from entering the US.
They are said to be “radical activists” who “want to force American platforms to censor and suppress American views they oppose,” he said. a statement from Secretary of State Marco Rubio. They are said to be “agents of the global censorship-industrial complex” and will no longer be granted visas for the US.
European sovereignty
This has further increased political tensions between the United States and the European Union, less than a month after the harsh criticism of the EU in the American National Security Strategy. For both Washington and Brussels, core values are at stake: Washington says that freedom of expression is threatened by European rules. Brussels sees the sovereign freedom to make its own legislation threatened by American interference.
A European Commission spokesperson strongly condemned the sanctions on Wednesday, saying: “If necessary, we will respond quickly and decisively to defend our regulatory autonomy against unjust measures. The European Union is an open, rules-based common market, and has the right to regulate economic activities in accordance with our democratic values and international obligations.”
To our American friends: censorship is not what you think it is
French President Macron called the sanctions “intimidation aimed at undermining European digital sovereignty.” Breton himself defended on X the Digital Services Act (DSA), which is a bone of contention for Americans and which was introduced under his leadership. Breton pointed out that 90 percent of MEPs have agreed to the DSA, as have all 27 EU member states. He added: “And to our American friends: censorship is not where you think it is.”
At the beginning of this month, the European Commission imposed a fine of 120 million euros on platform
As European Commissioner, Breton has already received a lot of criticism in the United States, and not only from Republicans. , after the police shot dead a 17-year-old boy, he threatened social media with fines and “banishment from our territory.” .
German Justice Minister Stefanie Hubig called the US sanctions “unacceptable” on Wednesday. Two of her compatriots are among those now denied US visas: Anna-Lena von Hodenberg and Josephine Ballon, from the German organization HateAid, which provides support to victims of hate speech on social media. In a statement they said they will not be intimidated by this “act of repression by a government that increasingly disdains the rule of law and tries with all its might to silence critics.”
‘DSA has nothing to do with censorship’
The other two affected by sanctions are the British, head of Global Disinformation Index, an organization that advises policymakers and companies on countering disinformation, and Imran Ahmed, head of the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH).
Imran Ahmed was sued by Elon Musk in 2023, after the CCDH mapped out how sharply the number of hate messages on the then Twitter had increased after Musk took over the platform. The judge dismissed Musk’s complaint. British Ahmed recently moved to the US with his family, but due to the now imposed sanction, writes The New York Times.
Outgoing Minister of Foreign Affairs David van Weel (VVD) disapproves of the American sanctions, he said in a statement. “The DSA tackles the spread of illegal online content and disinformation with the aim of creating a safe, predictable and reliable online environment. This is important to ensure that what is prohibited offline cannot be done online. This has nothing to do with censorship.”
Imran Ahmed mapped out how much hate messages on Twitter have increased. He faces deportation
Van Weel calls it “important to continue to actively engage in discussions with the US and tech companies about compliance with the DSA, and to remove concerns from US companies about censorship and/or discrimination.”
According to Dutch IT expert Bert Hubert, who has been speaking out for years about the need to become more digitally independent, “the American message is: as long as you use our technology, you should use it the way we want. You should not write the rules yourself.
“That has consequences for all EU use of technology,” said Hubert. He points out that Thierry Breton is an advisor to Bank of America. “Breton will have to do this remotely for the time being, via Teams (from Microsoft). As long as he is still allowed on Teams.”
Because Europeans don’t just use American (and Chinese) social media en masse. The data centers in Europe are also largely American, just like the software that governments and companies run. “This attitude of ‘If you start writing rules we will get angry’ also applies to Teams, to Office, to Outlook.”
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