Washington: The State Department has denied visas to five people, including a former top European Union official and two British social media campaigners, accusing them of seeking to “coerce" US social media platforms for alleged “censorship".
“The State Department is taking decisive action against five individuals who have led organized efforts to coerce American platforms to censor, demonetize, and suppress American viewpoints they oppose," US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement announcing sanctions on the five individuals.
“For far too long, ideologues in Europe have led organized efforts to coerce American platforms to punish American viewpoints they oppose," he said in a post on X, characterizing the individuals as “radical activists" who had “advanced censorship crackdowns" by foreign states against “American speakers and American companies".
The measure targeted Thierry Breton, the former top tech regulator at the European Commission, Imran Ahmed of the Centre for Countering Digital Hate, and Anna-Lena von Hodenberg and Josephine Ballon of HateAid. Breton, who left the European Commission in 2024, slammed the ban as a “witch hunt".
