Trump Bans Europeans Over Twitter Fines, Declares War on Social Media Drama

KEY POINTS

•On December 24, 2025, Trump’s administration banned five Europeans including Thierry Breton for allegedly coercing American platforms to censor content.
•The ban followed a €120 million ($141 million) EU fine on X for violating the Digital Services Act, which targets content moderation.
•French officials condemned the move while the Trump administration threatened more visa restrictions against foreign critics of U.S. social media platforms.

On December 24, 2025, the Trump administration rolled out a new episode of 'Visa Restrictions: EU Edition,' banning five Europeans including Thierry Breton, the mastermind of the EU's Digital Services Act (DSA). Breton, who managed to irritate Elon Musk by enforcing content moderation rules from 2019–2024 and once served under French President Jacques Chirac, called the Trump visa ban a 'witch hunt' via Musk's favorite soapbox, X. The timing? Perfectly synced with the European Commission handing X a whopping €120 million ($141 million) fine, upsetting American officials who see EU rules as an 'extraterritorial censorship' plot. Rubio labeled the banned as 'radical activists,' including heads of anti-hate orgs and disinformation indexes, accused of muzzling American voices from across the pond. France fired back on X with smug claims the DSA is purely local law, while the Trump State Department hinted there could be more passports revoked if Europe doesn’t behave. Meanwhile, X deactivated the EC’s ad account faster than you can say 'cold war 2.0'. It’s the digital version of neighborly drama, only with more hashtags and less diplomacy.