FILE PHOTO: European Commissioner for Internal Market Thierry Breton looks on before French President Emmanuel Macron's speech on Europe in the amphitheatre of the Sorbonne University in Paris, France, 25 April 2024. Christophe Petit Tesson/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
PARIS, Dec 24 (Reuters) - The French government condemned on Wednesday a visa ban imposed by the Trump administration on Thierry Breton, a former European Union commissioner who helped drive the EU's Digital Services Act, which has recently targeted top U.S. tech companies.
The Trump administration on Tuesday imposed visa bans on Breton and other anti-disinformation campaigners who it says were involved in censoring U.S. social media platforms, in the latest move in a campaign aimed at European rules that U.S. officials say go beyond legitimate regulation.
"France strongly condemns the visa restriction imposed by the United States on Thierry Breton, former minister and European Commissioner, and four other European figures," wrote French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot on X on Wednesday.
ELON MUSK'S X FINED BY EU
Breton, a former French finance minister and the European commissioner for the internal market from 2019 to 2024, was the most high-profile individual targeted.
Breton was replaced in the internal market role at the EU by another French politician, Stephane Sejourne, who is the EU Commission's executive vice president. Sejourne also criticised the U.S. visa ban and defended the EU's Digital Services Act.
"No sanction will silence the sovereignty of the European peoples. Total solidarity with him and all the people of Europe affected by this," wrote Sejourne on X.
U.S. Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy Sarah Rogers, when outlining the bans on Tuesday, described Breton as a "mastermind" of the Digital Services Act, which was again defended by Barrot on Wednesday.
This month, Elon Musk's X platform was fined 120 million euros by the EU for breaching online content rules.
"The Digital Services Act was democratically adopted in Europe to ensure that what is illegal offline is also illegal online. It has absolutely no extraterritorial reach and in no way affects the United States," wrote Barrot on X.
Breton himself also condemned the visa ban against him.
"Is McCarthy’s witch hunt back? As a reminder: 90% of the European Parliament — our democratically elected body — and all 27 Member States unanimously voted the DSA. To our American friends: Censorship isn’t where you think it is," wrote Breton on X.
(Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta; Editing by Michael Perry and Alex Richardson)
