The US Department of State, under the direction of Marco Rubio, has taken a decisive step against EU political figures accused of acting against American interests. The DOS is barring several prominent individuals from entry to this country. These people have sought to censor free and open dialogue on American media platforms such as X.
This move is quite different from anything we saw under the Biden administration. It is a slap in the face to Hillary Clinton who was a big supporter of the EU Digital Services Act (DSA). The DSA was designed to allow government entities to punish those who expressed disagreement with government policies. No longer will America be subservient to the designs of those in Brussels who want to control all online discourse.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has framed the action as a defense of American free speech against what he described as organized, ideological pressure from abroad. He made it crystal clear that the era of tolerating overseas attempts to silence U.S. voices and American positions is over.
For far too long, ideologues in Europe have led organized efforts to coerce American platforms to punish American viewpoints they oppose. The Trump Administration will no longer tolerate these egregious acts of extraterritorial censorship.
Today, @StateDept will take steps to…
— Secretary Marco Rubio (@SecRubio) December 23, 2025
There is little doubt that fines and threats against US-based digital firms are the basis of the actions announced. Musk’s X was hit with a roughly $140 million fine over alleged violations of the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA).
Robert Semonsen notes:
Ultimately, the confrontation underscores a widening divide between America’s free-speech tradition and Europe’s top-down, increasingly managerial—and even authoritarian—politics. By drawing this line, Washington is signaling that American values will not be subordinated to EU’s globalist ideology.
It is long past time that someone stood up for freedom of speech and called out the attempts by various authoritarian figures to control what people see and hear.
Thank you, Mario Rubio.