Washington is upping the ante against censorship, warning foreign officials that they will be banned from travelling to the U.S. if they limit the free speech of Americans. Government departments that (over) regulate U.S. tech companies could also face repercussions.
European officials were clearly in mind during the creation of these plans. Figures in Donald Trump’s administration have spent months criticising Continental leaders for imposing censorship—most memorably JD Vance who told the February Munich security conference about Europe’s “enemy within”—and Secretary of State Marco Rubio specifically mentioned Europe when outlining the measures in a social media post on Wednesday.
For too long, Americans have been fined, harassed, and even charged by foreign authorities for exercising their free speech rights …
Whether in Latin America, Europe, or elsewhere, the days of passive treatment for those who work to undermine the rights of Americans are over.
For too long, Americans have been fined, harassed, and even charged by foreign authorities for exercising their free speech rights.
Today, I am announcing a new visa restriction policy that will apply to foreign officials and persons who are complicit in censoring Americans.…
Rubio did not name any specific instances of censorship. But Samuel Samson, a senior official at the State Department’s Bureau of Democracy and Human Rights, did attack the European Union’s Digital Services Act on Tuesday, saying it was “used to silence dissident voices through Orwellian content moderation.”
Europe has devolved into a hotbed of digital censorship, mass migration, restrictions on religious freedom, and numerous other assaults on democratic self-governance.
And in the UK, newspapers have suggested that individuals working for Ofcom—the regulator responsible for policing Britain’s online safety laws—could be among those set to be barred from crossing the U.S. border.
A European Commission spokesman refused on Wednesday to say anything other than that Rubio’s announcement “seems to be of a general nature.” Officials are likely to have much more to say when travel bans begin to be imposed.
Michael Curzon is a news writer for europeanconservative.com based in England’s Midlands. He is also Editor of Bournbrook Magazine, which he founded in 2019, and previously wrote for London’s Express Online. His Twitter handle is @MichaelCurzon_.
