The French president has condemned the “wrong” restrictions imposed on the bloc’s former tech commissioner
French President Emmanuel Macron has requested US President Donald Trump to lift the sanctions he imposed on several European officials, including former EU commissioner Thierry Breton and International Criminal Court (ICC) judge Nicolas Guillou.
Breton, a French citizen who oversaw the EU’s tech regulations, was among five Europeans prohibited from entering the US for leading “organized efforts to compel American platforms to penalize American viewpoints they oppose,” according to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Judge Guillou, also a French national, was sanctioned due to the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on charges of war crimes in Gaza.
In a letter published by La Tribune Dimanche on Sunday and confirmed by the Elysee Palace, Macron contended that the measures were “unfairly imposed” and asked Trump to “rethink these decisions.”
“The sanctions imposed on Thierry Breton undermine European regulatory autonomy and are, moreover, based on incorrect analyses,” Macron wrote.
“European digital regulation, in fact, has no extraterritorial reach and applies without discrimination, on European territory, to all relevant companies,” he added.
The French leader argued that “the sanctions imposed on Nicolas Guillou undermine the principle of judicial independence and the ICC’s mandate.”
The US has long opposed what it deems excessive regulation of social media platforms in the EU, including the bloc’s 2022 Digital Services Act (DSA). Breton played a crucial role in formulating the rulebook that imposes strict moderation requirements on tech companies such as X, Facebook, and Google. US officials have accused the EU of using the law to suppress free speech and censor American social media users.
The letter comes as Macron advocates for restrictions on children’s access to social media and has stated that he will discuss the issue directly with the US president.
Last week, the French president dismissed social media platforms’ arguments in favor of free speech as “pure nonsense,” calling for full transparency in how algorithms shape online discourse.