Former European commissioner for the internal market Thierry Breton, Paris, June 13, 2025. THOMAS SAMSON / AFP
On Tuesday, December 23, the Trump administration announced sanctions against five European figures who advocated for stricter tech regulation, banning them from entering the US. Among them is former European commissioner and French national Thierry Breton.
According to the State Department, the actions of these individuals amount to "censorship" detrimental to American interests. "For far too long, ideologues in Europe have led organized efforts to coerce American platforms to punish American viewpoints they oppose," wrote US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on X. "The Trump administration will no longer tolerate these egregious acts of extraterritorial censorship," he added, denouncing a "global censorship-industrial complex."
"Is McCarthy's witch hunt back?" wrote Breton on X Tuesday night, in a reference to the anticommunist inquisition led by American Senator Joseph McCarthy in the 1950s. "As a reminder: 90% of the European Parliament – our democratically elected body –and all 27 Member States unanimously voted the DSA [Digital Services Act]," Breton continued. "To our American friends: 'Censorship isn't where you think it is.'"
