Overview
- The State Department imposed entry and residency bans on HateAid leaders Anna-Lena von Hodenberg and Josephine Ballon, former EU commissioner Thierry Breton, CCDH’s Imran Ahmed, and GDI’s Clare Melford.
- Secretary of State Marco Rubio accused the group of pressuring US platforms to suppress viewpoints and warned the list could expand without a “course correction.”
- Germany rejected the US characterization, with Justice Minister Stefanie Hubig asserting Europe decides its digital rules and Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul calling the bans unacceptable.
- EU and French officials defended the DSA as democratically enacted, the European Commission requested clarification and vowed to protect regulatory autonomy, and President Emmanuel Macron condemned the measures as coercive.
- HateAid denounced the move as an act of repression that challenges European sovereignty, and CCDH says Ahmed resides in Washington, raising the prospect of deportation under the ban.