European digital sovereignty won't yield to US sanctions: EU commissioner

A senior European Commission official on Wednesday vowed to press ahead with online content scrutiny after Washington imposed visa restrictions on some European regulators.

Stephane Sejourne, the executive vice president and the European Commissioner for Industrial Strategy, strongly defended former Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton, a prominent driver of the European Union (EU) Digital Services Act (DSA) framework.

"No sanction will silence the sovereignty of the European peoples," Sejourne wrote in a post on social platform X, adding that he stood in "total solidarity" with Breton and other European officials over digital regulation.

The U.S. State Department on Tuesday issued visa restrictions on Breton and four others from the EU and Britain, claiming that they are involved in content censorship of U.S. social media platforms.

The transatlantic friction has unfolded since Brussels stepped up enforcement of the DSA, which entered into force on Nov. 16, 2022.

On Dec. 5, the European Commission issued its first non-compliance decision under the act, fining U.S. social media X 120 million euros (about 141.6 million U.S. dollars) for the deceptive design of its blue checkmark, a lack of transparency in its advertising repository, and failing to provide researchers with access to public data.

Breton, who left the commission in 2024, condemned the U.S. move as a renewed "witch hunt." He stressed that the DSA was adopted through a democratic process, backed by an overwhelming majority in the European Parliament and endorsed by all 27 EU member states.