US has imposed sanctions on those fighting disinformation

Five individuals whose activities, according to Washington, threaten freedom of speech and the interests of Trump's allies, in particular billionaire Elon Musk, have been subject to visa restrictions, Reuters reports.

Thierry Breton, a former European commissioner who was one of the key initiators of the Digital Services Act (DSA), which obliges large technology companies to combat hate speech and disinformation, has been sanctioned.

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The sanctions also target the heads of organizations that investigate dangerous content on the internet. They include Imran Ahmed, CEO of the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH); Claire Melfort, co-founder of the Global Disinformation Index (GDI); and two employees of the German non-profit organization HateAid, Anna-Lena von Hodenberg and Josephine Ballon.

The US administration believes that they coordinated efforts to limit the income of American companies and suppress views that contradict their ideology. According to State Department officials, European leaders are using the fight against disinformation as a tool to persecute opponents of immigration policy.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio stressed that the entry of these individuals into the US could have negative consequences for the country's foreign policy. The US Department of Homeland Security is also considering initiating deportation proceedings against individuals associated with these organizations.

US Assistant Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy Sarah Rogers wrote that the sanctions against Ahmed were partly related to the 2022 Disinformation Dozen report, which named current US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as one of the main disseminators of anti-vaccine content.

“These radical activists and armed public organizations have contributed to increased censorship by foreign states, in each case targeting American speakers and American companies. We have taken steps to impose visa restrictions on agents of the global censorship-industrial complex,” Rubio said.

“Or is this another McCarthy-era witch hunt? To our American friends: ‘censorship is not where you think it is,’” Breton responded to the US decision.

A representative of the Global Disinformation Index called Washington's actions an “authoritarian attack.”

“The Trump administration is once again using all the influence of the federal government to intimidate, censor, and silence voices it disagrees with. Their actions are immoral, illegal, and anti-American,” he said.

Photo: svidomi.in.ua.

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