US Sanctions Former EU Official, Others in Swipe at Europe (1)

The Trump administration imposed visa bans on a former European official and several activists for trying to police online hate speech, drawing immediate rebukes from Paris and Berlin that the move amounted to unacceptable intimidation.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubiojustified the visa restrictions, which targeted former European Union Commissioner Thierry Breton and activists fighting online hate speech, as pushback against the “global censorship-industrial complex” that he said has affected American tech companies.

“For far too long, ideologues in Europe have led organized efforts to coerce American platforms to punish American viewpoints they oppose,” Rubio posted Tuesday on X. ...