AI-Summary – News For Tomorrow
The US State Department denied visas to five individuals, including two British social media campaigners, accusing them of trying to “coerce” American tech platforms into suppressing free speech. This action sparked European condemnation, with Macron calling it “intimidation.” Those affected include figures linked to the CCDH and GDI, organizations that monitor disinformation, and Thierry Breton, former EU tech regulator behind the Digital Services Act (DSA). The US government accuses these individuals of collaborating with the Biden administration and enforcing the DSA, which some US conservatives view as censorship. European leaders are defending their digital regulations and condemning the US action as an attack on free speech and European digital sovereignty.
News summary provided by Gemini AI.
Two British social media campaigners are among five people denied US visas after the State Department accused them of seeking to “coerce” American tech platforms into suppressing free speech.
French President Emmanuel Macron led European condemnation of the move, describing it as “intimidation”.
Ahmed has links to senior Labour figures. He was previously an aide to Labour minister Hilary Benn, and Sir Keir Starmer’s chief of staff Morgan McSweeney has served as a director of the group he founded.
The US government labelled Ahmed a “collaborator” for the CCDH’s purported past work with the Biden administration. BBC News has contacted the CCDH for comment.
Melford founded the GDI, a non-profit that monitors the spread of disinformation, in 2018.
A GDI spokesperson told the BBC that “the visa sanctions announced today are 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. Their actions today are immoral, unlawful, and un-American.”
Also targeted was Thierry Breton, the former top tech regulator at the European Commission, who suggested that a “witch hunt” was taking place.
Breton was described by the State Department as the “mastermind” of the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA), which imposes content moderation on social media firms.
However, it has angered some US conservatives who see it as seeking to censor right-wing opinions. Brussels denies this.
Breton has clashed with Elon Musk, the world’s richest man and owner of X, over obligations to follow EU rules.
The European Commission recently fined X €120m (£105m) over its blue tick badges – the first fine under the DSA. It said the platform’s blue tick system was “deceptive” because the firm was not “meaningfully verifying users”.
In response, Musk’s site blocked the Commission from sharing adverts on its platform.
Reacting to the visa ban, Breton posted on X: “To our American friends: Censorship isn’t where you think it is.”
European leaders have condemned the move, with Macron saying: “These measures amount to intimidation and coercion aimed at undermining European digital sovereignty.
“The European Union’s digital regulations were adopted following a democratic and sovereign process by the European Parliament and the Council.”
The European Commission said it had “requested clarifications” from the US, and would “respond swiftly and decisively to defend our regulatory autonomy against unjustified measures”.
Also subject to bans were Anna-Lena von Hodenberg and Josephine Ballon of HateAid, a German organisation that the State Department said helped enforce the DSA.
In a statement to the BBC, the two CEOs called it an “act of repression by a government that is increasingly disregarding the rule of law and trying to silence its critics by any means necessary”.
