Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Trump administration bars 5 prominent Europeans from the U.S.
Fortune ^ | December 24, 2026 | Beatrice Nolan

Posted on 12/24/2025 2:54:51 PM PST by aspasia

The Trump administration has barred five Europeans from entering the U.S., accusing them of pressuring American tech companies to censor or suppress American speech online. The individuals—Thierry Breton, Imran Ahmed, Josephine Ballon, Anna-Lena von Hodenberg, and Clare Melford—are all leading figures in European efforts to regulate harmful or illegal content on social media platforms.

The five were barred under a May policy targeting foreign nationals deemed responsible for suppressing speech protected under U.S. law.

(Excerpt) Read more at fortune.com ...


TOPICS: Breaking News; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: annalenavonhodenberg; annavonhodenberg; claremelford; covid; covid19; freedomofspeech; freespeech; imranahmed; josephineballon; lenavonhodenberg; melford; thierrybreton; vonhodenberg; waronfreespeech
Message from Jim Robinson:

Dear FRiends,

We need your continuing support to keep FR funded. Your donations are our sole source of funding. No sugar daddies, no advertisers, no paid memberships, no commercial sales, no gimmicks, no tax subsidies. No spam, no pop-ups, no ad trackers.

If you enjoy using FR and agree it's a worthwhile endeavor, please consider making a contribution today:

Click here: to donate by Credit Card

Or here: to donate by PayPal

Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794

Thank you very much and God bless you,

Jim


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-24 next last

1 posted on 12/24/2025 2:54:51 PM PST by aspasia
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: aspasia

Payback. Think Michael Savage.


2 posted on 12/24/2025 3:00:58 PM PST by DIRTYSECRET
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: aspasia

How ironic....they censor speech and we censor them.


3 posted on 12/24/2025 3:02:55 PM PST by RetiredTexasVet (Trump has arrived and it is awesome to have a real President.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: RetiredTexasVet

They bring knife, we bring gun


4 posted on 12/24/2025 3:04:33 PM PST by bigbob (We are all Charlie Kirk now)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: aspasia
pic4
5 posted on 12/24/2025 3:05:19 PM PST by aspasia
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: RetiredTexasVet

Barring entry is retaliatory, but not censorship.


6 posted on 12/24/2025 3:09:09 PM PST by aspasia
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: aspasia

Barred from entry, key architect of the EU's Digital Services Act Thierry Breton

7 posted on 12/24/2025 3:13:54 PM PST by aspasia
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: aspasia
pic5

Starmer advisor Imran Ahmed, the chief executive of the Centre for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) faces deportation. The CCDH was co-founded by Morgan McSweeney, British PM Keir Starmer's Chief of Staff

8 posted on 12/24/2025 3:22:36 PM PST by aspasia
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: aspasia
pic6
9 posted on 12/24/2025 3:26:15 PM PST by aspasia
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: aspasia
pic7

Denied entry: Clare Melford co-founder of Globla Disinformation Index (GDI) "which aims to mitigate the spread of disinformation on the internet."

A GDI spokesperson told Fortune: “The visa sanctions announced today are an authoritarian attack on free speech and an egregious act of government censorship … GDI exists so that the public can understand and evaluate the information they find online. We fight speech with more speech. If only the federal government were brave enough to do the same.” Who do you believe, Rubio or GDI?

10 posted on 12/24/2025 3:38:50 PM PST by aspasia
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: RetiredTexasVet

And they have only themselves to blame for their predicaments.


11 posted on 12/24/2025 3:39:59 PM PST by No name given ( Anonymous is who you’ll know me as )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: RetiredTexasVet

Looks like you’re on the same page as GDI?


12 posted on 12/24/2025 3:40:11 PM PST by aspasia
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: aspasia
pic8
13 posted on 12/24/2025 3:43:35 PM PST by aspasia
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: aspasia
Look at all the Republicans we have had in office over the years. And they were all spineless cucks like Pence. They bent their knee to ever foreigner, and kissed said foreigners' nether regions. Not one in all those years stood up to foreign powers.

Now we have a real man, a real leader in the White House.

Merry Christmas President Trump.

14 posted on 12/24/2025 3:52:04 PM PST by Governor Dinwiddie ( O give thanks unto the Lord, for He is gracious, and his mercy endures forever. — Psalm 106)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Governor Dinwiddie
GOP=UK Tories

After Trump, GOP will try to return to what it was like before 2016.

15 posted on 12/24/2025 3:57:09 PM PST by MinorityRepublican
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: aspasia

Love Rubio.


16 posted on 12/24/2025 4:00:47 PM PST by Vision (“Our Democracy” means "Our Slush Fund." The Left is hate.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: MinorityRepublican
Watch for the next election cycle GOP candidate stance on the EU. But we arent' there yet. More to come with still 3 years left of.

In a Reuters article citing EU response to the State Department action they write:

EUROPEANS FORCED TO RETHINK TRANSATLANTIC TIES

They come just weeks after a U.S. National Security Strategy document warned Europe faced "civilizational erasure" and must course-correct if it is to remain a reliable U.S. ally. That document - and other comments by senior Trump officials, including a bombshell February speech by Vice President JD Vance in Munich - have upended postwar assumptions about Europe's close relationship with its strongest ally, and concentrated minds across European capitals on the urgent need to diversify away from reliance on U.S. technology and defence.


17 posted on 12/24/2025 4:04:38 PM PST by aspasia
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: aspasia

A lot of it depends on whether JD can win. If not, it’ll be back to business as usual.


18 posted on 12/24/2025 4:06:48 PM PST by MinorityRepublican
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: aspasia

Finally our government is doing something that protects or promotes constitutional rights and the ideas espoused in it.

It seems all our government was going for the last 3 decades was figuring out ways to circumnavigate the Constitution.


19 posted on 12/24/2025 4:29:12 PM PST by Red6
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: aspasia

More:

https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/4358838/posts

🎀🕍⛪👍🎄


20 posted on 12/24/2025 4:31:54 PM PST by rktman (Destroy America from within? On hold! Enlisted USN 1967 proudly. 🚫💉! 🇮🇱🙏! Winning currently!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-24 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson