These are “acts of intimidation and coercion against European digital sovereignty”. It is with these words that Emmanuel Macron, President of the French Republic, referred to the American announcement to close its doors to the arrival of five European citizens, including a former commissioner, who took a stand against hatred on the Internet and the permissiveness of large American companies. Many European leaders have joined this response in recent hours. This is not the case for the far-right parties in the Union.
The French president spoke after his government and much of the French political class criticized the American decision on Tuesday, when Washington announced a ban on entry into the United States against Thierry Breton and four other European figures.
The Trump administration justified this measure by estimating that these five European citizens “led organized efforts to force American platforms to censor, demonetize and delete American opinions with which they do not agree” due to the Digital Services Act (DSA).
In addition to Breton, European Commissioner for the Internal Market between 2019 and 2024, the entry veto list also includes British activist Imran Ahmed, executive director of the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), an organization dedicated to combating hatred and disinformation on the Internet. Likewise, the directors of the German organization Hate Aid, Annalena von Hodenberg and Josephine Ballon, are on the list, as they themselves reported.
In his message, Macron denounced the measures taken against the five people and clarified that “the rules which apply in the field of the internet in Europe are not intended to be determined outside of Europe”. “Alongside the European Commission and our European partners, we will continue to defend our digital sovereignty and our regulatory autonomy,” warned the French president.
He recalled that “the European Union’s digital regulations were approved through a democratic and sovereign process by the European Parliament and the Council”. This same regulation, he explained, is applied in Europe to “guarantee fair competition between platforms, without targeting any third country, and to enforce online rules already imposed offline”.
In Spain, the Foreign Ministry criticized the US decision and expressed solidarity with those sanctioned. Considers that the measures announced by the Trum administration “constitute unacceptable measures between partners and allies”. “A safe digital space, free from illegal content and disinformation, is a fundamental value for democracy in Europe and is everyone’s responsibility. The Digital Services Regulation protects this space without discrimination,” the statement said.
Reactions have multiplied within the European Commission, other European institutions and from heads of government. “Freedom of expression is the basis of our strong and vibrant European democracy. We are proud of it. We will protect it,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen wrote on the social network X.
The community executive has requested clarification from the American authorities on these measures and assures that it will act “if necessary” “quickly and decisively” to defend the regulatory autonomy of the EU “in the face of unjustified measures”.
For his part, the President of the European Council, António Costa, described the sanctions as “unacceptable among allies, partners and friends”. “The EU strongly defends freedom of expression, fair digital rules and its regulatory sovereignty,” he said on social media.
In the same spirit, the head of Community diplomacy, Kaja Kallas, described them as “unacceptable” and added that they constitute an “attempt to challenge” the sovereignty of the EU, while the president of the European Chamber, Roberta Metsola, called for “rapidly repealing” the travel ban.
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul described as unacceptable the sanctions of the Donald Trump administration against the German organization HateAid, whose two leaders were banned the day before from entering the United States, as well as three other European citizens whom this country accuses of “coercing” social networks to censor American voices. “The entry bans imposed by the United States, including against HateAid leaders, are not acceptable,” Wadephul wrote in X.
In the United Kingdom, which has also been affected by US sanctions, the government has shown its commitment to “freedom of expression”.
Vox defends it
In Spain, the far right defended Trump for taking this step. “The European Commission claims the right to censor social networks in the name of “sovereignty”, but complains when the United States uses its sovereignty to prohibit entry to the ideologues of this censorship,” the party declared on its X account.
The French far right has failed to speak with one voice on this issue. There was some dissonance within Marine Le Pen’s party, the National Rally (RN). Even if one of its vice-presidents, Sébastien Chenu, considered that the Trump administration was wrong “in substance and in terms of image”, at least two RN European deputies declared that they understood the American actions.
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