France ‘strongly condemns’ US visa restrictions on 5 European figures

ISTANBUL

France on Wednesday condemned recent visa restrictions imposed by the US on five European figures, including former European Commissioner Thierry Breton.

"France strongly condemns the visa restriction imposed by the United States on Thierry Breton, former minister and European Commissioner, and four other European figures," French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot wrote on US social media platform X.

He said the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA) – legislation cited by the U.S. restrictions – was "democratically adopted" in Europe "to ensure that what is illegal offline is also illegal online."

"It has absolutely no extraterritorial reach and in no way affects the United States. The peoples of Europe are free and sovereign and cannot let the rules governing their digital space be imposed by others upon them," Barrot added.

The US imposed visa restrictions on five individuals accused of leading organized efforts to coerce platforms into censoring "American viewpoints," Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced Tuesday.

Individuals targeted include Breton, a former European commissioner involved in the DSA, who is accused of threatening X owner Elon Musk over compliance with the law; Imran Ahmed, CEO and founder of the Center for Countering Digital Hate, cited for collaborating with the Biden administration to "weaponize the government against US citizens," including prominent anti-vaccine figures; Clare Melford, head of the Global Disinformation Index, accused of using US taxpayer money to “exhort censorship and blacklisting of American speech and press”; and two executives of the German NGO HateAid, Anna-Lena von Hodenberg and Josephine Ballon, targeted for their roles as “trusted flaggers” under the DSA.