December 25, 2025

The European Union (EU), French, German, and British senior officials on Wednesday strongly condemned a U.S. decision to impose travel restrictions on five European individuals, including former European Commissioner Thierry Breton.

Alleging their involvement in content censorship on U.S. social media platforms, the U.S. State Department on Tuesday issued visa restrictions on Breton, Imran Ahmed, a British citizen and chief executive of the U.S.-based Center for Countering Digital Hate, Anna-Lena von Hodenberg and Josephine Ballon from the German non-profit organization HateAid, and Clare Melford, a co-founder of the Global Disinformation Index.

U.S. Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy Sarah Rogers has described Breton, who left the European Commission in 2024, as "a mastermind" of the EU Digital Services Act (DSA).

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