“Is the McCarthy Witch Hunt Returning?”

Europe revolts against the latest attack of the US Administration of Donald Trump. Brussels, France and Germany have condemned the White House’s decision to impose travel restrictions on five European citizensincluding the former Community Commissioner for the Internal Market Thierry Bretonwhich promote regulations to limit misinformation on platforms such as X, Meta and TikTok.

Washington has decided to sanction Breton, the British activist Imran Ahmedexecutive director of the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), an organization dedicated to combating hate and misinformation on the internet, to the directors of the German organization Hate Aid, Anna-Lena von Hodenberg y Josephine Ballonalready Clare Melfordco-founder of the Global Misinformation Index.

According to the Trump Administration, those sanctioned “have led organized efforts to coerce US platforms to censor, demonetize and suppress American opinions with which they disagree.

EU fine on X

Travel restrictions are the latest episode in the complicated and strained relationship between the US and Europe They have maintained since Trump’s return to the White House last January. Some divergences that have also emerged in defense and trade policies, in the resolution of the war in Ukraine or in matters of migration.

The sanctions follow the line of the National Security strategy published by the Government that warns of the “erasure of civilization” in Europe due to its migration policies and denounces the EU’s alleged censorship of freedom of expression and even political opposition.

Breton was one of the main promoters of the European Digital Services Law (DSA), which forces large platforms to take charge of the content they broadcast. The first sanction covered by this regulation was imposed by Brussels on X at the beginning of December: a minimum fine of 120 million for “deceiving” its users with its famous blue verification mark. Elon Musk, owner of the social network, has referred to the former commissioner as the “tyrant of Europe.”

“Is the McCarthy Witch Hunt Back?”Breton himself asked himself precisely in X shortly after hearing the news of the visa withdrawal. “As a reminder: 90% of the democratically elected European Parliament and all 27 Member States voted unanimously in favor of the DSA. To our American friends: censorship is not where you think it is.”

The vice president of the Community Executive for Industry, the French Stéphane Séjournéstated that “no sanction will silence the sovereignty of the European peoples” and showed his “total solidarity” with those sanctioned. “My predecessor Thierry Breton has acted in favor of the general European interest, faithful to the mandate given by the voters in 2019,” he said in a message on networks.

The French president Emmanuel Macron expressed himself along the same lines, denouncing the “acts of intimidation and coercion” of the Trump Administration aimed at “undermining European digital sovereignty.” The president clarified that “the rules that apply in the field of the Internet in Europe are not intended to be determined outside Europe.”

The Government of Pedro Sanchezin the same way, has expressed its solidarity with Breton and those responsible for civil society organizations that fight against disinformation and hate speech. “A safe digital space, free of illegal content and misinformationis a fundamental value for democracy in Europe and a responsibility for everyone,” Foreign Affairs pointed out in a statement.

The president of the European Council, Antonio Costadefined the attitude of the White House as “unacceptable among allies, partners and friends.” “The EU remains firm in its defense of freedom of expression, fair digital rules and its regulatory sovereignty,” he recalled.

The German Minister of Foreign Affairs, Johann Wadephul, also called Washington’s measure against two of his citizens unacceptable, showing the Government’s “support and solidarity” with them. “Anyone who describes this as censorship is misrepresenting our constitutional system,” he lamented. “The rules under which we want to live in the digital space in Germany and in Europe are not decided in Washington.”

A spokesperson for the nonprofit Global Disinformation Index called the visa withdrawals “an authoritarian attack on free speech and an egregious act of government censorship.” “The Trump Administration is, once again, using the full power of the federal government to intimidate, censor and silence voices you disagree with“, he assured. “His actions today are immoral, illegal and un-American.”