Overview
- Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced visa restrictions under a May policy targeting foreigners deemed to have coerced U.S. platforms to suppress protected speech.
- Under Secretary Sarah Rogers later named the five: former EU commissioner Thierry Breton, Imran Ahmed of the Center for Countering Digital Hate, Clare Melford of the Global Disinformation Index, and HateAid leaders Josephine Ballon and Anna‑Lena von Hodenberg.
- The State Department said the determinations render the individuals generally inadmissible and that the Department of Homeland Security may initiate removal proceedings for covered people already in the U.S.
- France formally condemned the action against Breton, asserting the EU’s Digital Services Act was democratically adopted and has no extraterritorial reach.
- U.S. officials said the list could grow, tying the step to a wider pushback that has included warnings of trade measures and a pause in tech cooperation with the U.K., while those targeted denounced the move as a witch hunt and an attack on free speech.