The row between Europe and Washington about what you can do online just ramped up.
On Christmas Eve, the White House imposed visa bans on five public figures in Europe.
It’s all about what European officials describe as the regulation of online harm and what America’s authorities consider censorship.
“If you spend your career fomenting censorship of American speech, you’re unwelcome on American soil,” said Sarah Rogers, the US under secretary of state for public diplomacy, as the bans were announced.
The highest-profile figure facing travel restrictions is Thierry Breton, a former EU commissioner responsible for regulating social media and a key architect of the Digital Services Act (DSA)—a piece of legislation that is very unpopular in the White House.
The Trump administration has accused the EU of placing “undue” restrictions on freedom of expression in its efforts to combat hate speech, misinformation and disinformation.
The administration contends that the DSA unjustly singles out US companies and cities, which it lacks the authority to represent.
Mr Breton has already had some fiery spats with Elon Musk, the owner of X and former Trump adviser.
File pic: AP
Musk referred to him as a “tyrant of Europe” earlier this year, and Mr Breton accused Musk of deceiving him about the online restrictions he was subject to.
“Is McCarthy’s witch hunt back?” he posted on X after the bans were announced.
The other four people facing visa bans are from the UK and Germany, and they work in disinformation organisations.
They are the UK’s Imran Ahmed, chief executive of the Centre for Countering Digital Hate and Clare Melford, who runs the Global Disinformation Index and Germany’s Josephine Ballon and Anna-Lena von Hodenberg from HateAid.
Although this is the first time Washington has put visa bans in place, it is an argument that’s been brewing for years.
Europe and the UK have much stricter controls over what you can do online compared to America.
In Europe, there is the Digital Services Act, which regulates online activity. In the UK, we now have the Online Safety Act that began being fully enforced in July.
We also have a number of other laws that govern what you can say and can lead to jail time if you breach them.
Joey Barton avoids jail over X posts
Just this month, ex-footballer Joey Barton was given a six-month suspended prison sentence for “grossly offensive” posts he sent on X.
Under both of those acts, platforms hosting harmful content can be fined significant amounts, even if they’re based in the US.
Musk’s platform X, for example, was recently fined €120m (£104m) by the EU over issues relating to transparency.
Fines like that are what annoy the Trump administration so much. It sees rules like the Digital Services Act as governments in Europe undermining Americans’ right to freedom of speech.
Ironically, that’s exactly what European leaders are now accusing Washington of – overreach.
The EU Commission has strongly condemned the visa bans and the UK government said it “supports the laws and institutions which are working to keep the internet free from the most harmful content”.
The politician who replaced Breton in his EU commissioner role, Stephane Sejourne, said, “No sanction will silence the sovereignty of the European peoples. Total solidarity with him and all the people of Europe affected by this.”
