By A judge in the United States has ordered a pause in the Trump administration’s visa restriction policy targeting disinformation researchers and platform regulators, including former European Commissioner Thierry Breton.
Judge James E. Boasberg of the District of Columbia said in an opinion this week that a State Department policy barring people working against online hate speech and misinformation from entering the U.S. was likely in breach of the First Amendment protecting free speech.
The judge didn’t make a final decision in the case but ordered a halt to the policy until a final ruling is issued.
President Donald Trump’s secretary of state, Marco Rubio, announced in May 2025 that the U.S. government would apply visa restrictions on “foreign nationals who censor Americans.” The policy was widely seen as targeting the officials enforcing the European Union’s Digital Services Act and the United Kingdom’s Online Act, as well as the civil society groups producing research to support the enforcement.
The U.S. enforced the policy in December last year to revoke the visas of five people, including Breton and Imran Ahmed, CEO and founder of the Center for Countering Digital Hate.
In his opinion, released on Tuesday, the judge argued that the visa policy “burdens protected speech and association on the basis of viewpoint,” in a case brought by a group of researchers in March seeking to overturn the policy.
Ahmed, one of the five people targeted by the policy, said in a statement: “Censorship occurs when the government tries to revoke the green cards of people whose views its biggest donors would prefer not to hear. Holding up a mirror to power is not censorship. Deporting the person holding the mirror is.”
HateAid’s Josephine Ballon, another sanctioned person from civil society, said: “We are very relieved by the decision,” but added that the decision doesn’t mean that entry bans have been lifted and doesn’t address the financial sanctions also imposed on the individuals.
The U.S. State Department did not respond to POLITICO’s request for comment. Thierry Breton declined to comment.
Océane Herrero contributed reporting.
Originally published on www.politico.eu — View original
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