US denies visas to ex-EU commissioner and others over social media rules

[muriel_volestrangler]

Source: BBC

The US State Department said it would deny visas to five people, including a former EU commissioner, for seeking to "coerce" American social media platforms into suppressing viewpoints they oppose.

"These radical activists and weaponized NGOs have advanced censorship crackdowns by foreign states - in each case targeting American speakers and American companies," Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement.

Thierry Breton, the former top tech regulator at the European Commission, suggested that a "witch hunt" was taking place.

Breton was described by the State Department as the "mastermind" of the EU's Digital Services Act (DSA), which imposes content moderation on social media firms.

Read more: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cp39kngz008o

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At the same time, they manage to be extraordinarily petty, and worryingly in thrall to billionaires.

The NGOs are the Global Disinformation Index, the Center for Countering Digital Hate and HateAid. Ooh, radical, being against disinformation and hate. Details on the first two "crimes against freeedum!!!":

This is what Sarah Rogers, the under secretary of state for public diplomacy at the US state department, said on her social media thread last night about why Imran Ahmed is being sanctioned.

WE’VE SANCTIONED: Imran Ahmed, key collaborator with the Biden Administration’s effort to weaponize the government against U.S. citizens. Ahmed’s group, Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), created the infamous “disinformation dozen” report, which called for platforms to deplatform twelve American “anti-vaxxers”, including now-HHS Secretary @SecKennedy. Leaked documents from CCDH show the organization listed “kill Musk’s Twitter” and “trigger EU and UK regulatory action” as priorities. The organization supports the UK’s Online Safety Act and EU’s Digital Services Act to expand censorship in Europe and around the world.

Obviously, among other organisations supporting the UK’s Online Safety Act is – the UK government!

There is more on X trying to close down the CCDH here: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/oct/25/anti-hate-group-vows-continue-work-elon-musk-declaration-war

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2025/dec/24/free-speech-tech-us-relations-ed-davey-keir-starmer-uk-politics-live-news-updates?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-694bb56d8f0883df52b580a0#block-694bb56d8f0883df52b580a0

And this is what Sarah Rogers, the under secretary of state for public diplomacy at the US state department, said on her social media thread last night about why Clare Melford is being sanctioned.

WE’VE SANCTIONED: Clare Melford. She leads Global Disinformation Index (GDI), a UK-based organization that monitors websites for “hate speech” and “disinformation”. If you question Canadian blood libels about residential schools, you’re engaging in “hate speech” according to Melford and GDI. This NGO used @StateDept taxpayer money to exhort censorship and blacklisting of American speech and press. They also joined the deleterious EU Code of Practice on Disinformation.

Here is the full passage.

The anti-Indigenous hate speech section demonstrates how deeply rooted colonial tropes have been refashioned to serve contemporary hate speech goals. These narratives frame Indigenous peoples as corrupt, undeserving of treaty rights, or actively damaging to Canadian prosperity, particularly in contexts related to land use, environmental resistance, or constitutional recognition. Digital denialism around residential schools and abuses against native communities reveals coordinated efforts to delegitimise truth and reconciliation, undermining national commitments to redress historic injustice. These findings are vital for Canada’s ongoing reconciliation efforts, including understanding how settler-state narratives are weaponised by adversarial actors in post-colonial democracies.

The analysis of misogynistic and anti-2SLGBTQIA+ narratives reveals that gendered hate speech is a critical entry point into broader extremist movements online. Women with a public profile, especially women of colour, are disproportionately targeted by harassment, hate speech, and threats of violence. Meanwhile, disinformation targeting queer and trans individuals portrays them as morally corrupt or ideologically dangerous, frequently accusing them of “grooming” or social destabilisation. These narratives are central to the rhetorical arsenal of far-right movements and require urgent attention in online safety, education, and digital governance efforts.

The anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant narratives identified in this report draw on a coherent Islamophobic framework that depicts Muslims as culturally incompatible, socially regressive, or strategically infiltrating Western institutions. These narratives often surface in response to refugee policies, equity programs, or the public visibility of Muslim figures in Canadian life. Framed as defenders of Western values, their promoters instrumentalise gender-based language and demographic fear to advance exclusionary policies. These sections highlight how Islamophobia operates not only as individual bias, but as a tool of political mobilisation and disinformation strategy.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2025/dec/24/free-speech-tech-us-relations-ed-davey-keir-starmer-uk-politics-live-news-updates?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-694bb81e8f0883df52b580a8#block-694bb81e8f0883df52b580a8

[mdbl]

1. Pretty stupid to think denying a visa to a few people will keep them from publishing the truth

God forbid anyone might expose our fascism which is already in everyone's faces.