Eduardo González
The US Embassy in Madrid has relayed a message from Secretary of State Marco Rubio warning that the Trump Administration will ban entry to the country for “European ideologues” of the “global censorship industrial complex” who “coerce US platforms” and “punish American viewpoints.”
Earlier this week, Rubio barred five Europeans from entering the country, accusing them of coercing US technology companies to “censor, demonetize, and suppress American viewpoints.” Among the five members of this “global censorship industrial complex” was former European Commissioner Thierry Breton.
As a result, the Spanish government expressed its solidarity with Breton and with “those responsible for civil society organizations fighting against disinformation and hate speech, in the face of the visa restrictions imposed by the United States, which constitute unacceptable measures between partners and allies.”
“A safe digital space, free from illicit content and disinformation, is a fundamental value for democracy in Europe and a responsibility for all. The Digital Services Regulation protects this space without discrimination,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs added.
“For far too long, ideologues in Europe have led organized efforts to coerce American platforms to punish American viewpoints they oppose,” Rubio wrote in the message conveyed last Friday by the US Embassy in Spain.
“The Trump Administration will no longer tolerate these egregious acts of extraterritorial censorship,” he continued. “The State Department will take steps to bar leading figures of the global censorship-industrial complex from entering the United States. We stand ready and willing to expand this list if others do not reverse course,” he concluded.
