U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on Wednesday that his department would restrict visas on foreign nationals who “censor Americans.”
“It is unacceptable for foreign officials to issue or threaten arrest warrants on U.S. citizens or U.S. residents for social-media posts on American platforms while physically present on U.S. soil,” Rubio stated.
“It is similarly unacceptable for foreign officials to demand that American tech platforms adopt global content moderation policies or engage in censorship activity that reaches beyond their authority and into the United States,” he said.
The European Union has enacted various regulations, including its Digital Services Act, that give the European Commission broad powers to regulate content posted on American social-media sites like Meta and X that runs afoul of European speech codes.
Similarly, officials in the United Kingdom threatened to prosecute American citizens in 2024 amid anti-immigrant riots after rumors spread online that a British-born man of Rwandan descent who murdered three children was Muslim.
“We will throw the full force of the law at people,” Metropolitan Police Commissioner Mark Rowley told Sky News. “Whether you’re in this country committing crimes on the streets or committing crimes from further afield online, we will come after you.”
In his statement, Rubio said that foreign officials have “no authority” to make such threats.
“We will not tolerate encroachments upon American sovereignty, especially when such encroachments undermine the exercise of our fundamental right to free speech,” Rubio stated.
