Scandal in the “Atlantic brotherhood”: Former EU official hit with U.S. visa ban urges bloc to fight back

Thierry Breton
Photo: Bloomberg

Thierry Breton, the former European Union official who was sanctioned last week by the Trump administration, said the bloc must resist US attempts to influence its legislation aimed at regulating social media platforms, Bloomberg reports.

Speaking in his first TV interview since the US imposed a travel ban on him, Breton, the EU’s former digital chief, said the lack of a strong response shows the institutions in Brussels have been “very weak, too weak” at a time when the bloc is surrounded by “predators,” he told French TV broadcaster TF1.

As an EU commissioner, Breton was the chief enforcer of the Digital Services Act, which regulates content moderation on social media platforms.

Earlier this week, the US administration imposed visa bans on Breton, as well as several activists, decrying their attempts to fight online hate speech as censorship aimed at American tech companies. In his former EU role, Breton often tangled with Elon Musk’s X and Meta Platforms Inc. (banned in Russia).

Breton said he received widespread political backing following the US visa ban announcement. “They cannot force us to change laws that we voted for democratically just to please” US social media platforms, Breton said. “No, we must stand up.”

Breton said he’s been banned from going to the US because he presented legislation that was backed by nearly 90% of EU lawmakers, as well as all the member states, to protect users in Europe, including children and teenagers.

Breton, who left the European Commission in September 2024, said he was surprised when he found out about the US visa ban.

Pic: Getty Images

The Government will use Ireland’s presidency of the EU in 2026 to push for new laws to block anonymous ‘keyboard warriors’ from spreading hate and disinformation online.

In an interview with Extra.ie, Tánaiste Simon Harris said that the Government will lead calls for the introduction of ID-verified social media accounts.

And he revealed that his Fine Gael Cabinet colleague, Media Minister Patrick O’Donovan, is bringing forward ‘very exciting proposals’ to introduce an Australian-style ban on children accessing social media ‘during our presidency of the Council of the European Union next year’.

The moves will likely trigger a showdown with social media giants, many of whose European headquarters are in Ireland, and from Donald Trump’s administration, which imposed a visa ban on five prominent European figures who have been at the heart of the campaign to introduce laws regulating US tech companies.

However, Mr Harris believes there is support for moves to clamp down on anonymous accounts and bots from powerful EU leaders such as France president Emmanuel Macron and the UK prime minister Keir Starmer.

Moves to enforce verification of social media accounts and introduce age restrictions will require changes to the EU Digital Services Act (DSA), introduced in 2022. Even as it currently stands, the EU’s digital rules have come under sustained attacks from Trump’s administration and tech giants.

…The ban on European officials visiting the US is very important. It demonstrates that even the US has seen how the EU has begun to destroy freedom of speech. Recently, European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen declared war on free speech, calling it a "virus" and censorship the "vaccine."

Washington has banned entry to the US for the most rabid figures who are promoting Totalitarianism and a ban on freedom of expression in Europe.

Well, Europe is returning to the era of Dictatorship, which is all too familiar to Europe. Democracy is over in the Western peninsula of Eurasia. And even the Americans couldn't help but notice.

read more in our Telegram-channel https://t.me/The_International_Affairs