Exclusive: Trump administration weighs sanctions on officials implementing EU tech law, sources say

President Donald Trump's administration is considering imposing sanctions on European Union or member state officials responsible for implementing the bloc's landmark Digital Services Act, two sources familiar with the matter said, over U.S. complaints that the law censors Americans and imposes costs on U.S. tech companies.

Such a move would be an unprecedented action that would escalate the Trump administration's fight against what it sees as Europe's attempt to suppress conservative voices.

Senior State Department officials have yet to make a final decision on whether to go ahead with the punitive measures that would likely come in the form of visa restrictions, the sources said.

It was unclear which EU or EU member state officials the action would target, but U.S. officials held internal meetings on the topic last week, according to the sources.

Trump on Monday threatened countries that have digital taxes with "subsequent additional tariffs" on their goods, if those nations did not remove such legislation.

In the early-August directive, Secretary of State Marco Rubio ordered U.S. diplomats to regularly engage with EU governments and digital services authorities to convey U.S. concerns about the DSA and the financial costs for U.S. companies.

In May, Rubio had threatened visa bans for people who "censor" speech by Americans, including on social media, and suggested the policy could target foreign officials regulating U.S. tech companies.

A State Department spokesperson did not confirm nor deny Reuters' reporting on potential punitive action.

"We are monitoring increasing censorship in Europe with great concern but have no further information to provide at this time," the spokesperson said in an email.

An EU Commission spokesperson declined to comment on the potential for sanctions, but had previously called censorship claims by the U.S. "completely unfounded."

"The EU's antitrust and tech chiefs told U.S. lawmakers in March that the new tech rule aims to keep digital markets open and is not targeted at U.S. companies.

U.S. social media companies like Facebook and Instagram parent Meta Platforms have said the DSA amounts to censorship of their platforms."

I like the way the wording is used: "is not targeted at U.S. companies". While on its face the phrase is true, from my point of view its aimed at the American people, using US social media platforms as the proxy. Think of it as California with their stupid regulations, where it forces companies to comply with, effectively pushing the results on everyone else. The people of Indiana, or Nebraska, etc. didn't approve of those regulations, but are forced to live with the result because companies change their product because its 'easier to comply' than tell California to 'eff off'.
Case in point: the ICC, to which the US is not a party, but the ICC claims (well, tries to) jurisdiction. If the potential repercussions weren't terrible to contemplate, I could see the ICC kidnapping US citizens it deems in violation of whatever ruling it makes to 'try them' (I believe there was an important document where a complaint about such behavior was listed).

A president Kamala would be lockstep with the Europeans in censoring American’s speech. We wouldn’t recognize our country right now.

We dodged a bullet, just like Trump did.

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