Discussion
Trump puts a visa ban on four EU civil servants who have worked on The Digital Services Act, which is the law by which Elon Musk is fined.
I say, it is time for a tit for tat — ban Musk and Trump from entering the EU until this visa ban is lifted.
https://www.dw.com/en/us-bans-ex-eu-commissioner-others-over-social-media-rules/a-75291190
Via @hadon
@randahl @hadon What would matter more would be the European authorities to discard X, Meta & Co, and to start embracing much more wholeheartedly alternative platforms such as Mastodon and other related Fediverse-based platforms. We can't afford to remain dependent on American digital platforms any longer. European digital sovereignty is at stake.
@randahl @hadon Any EU protection action that provokes strong reactions from Trump and his associates means that the EU is on the right track. America has become a dark opponent of the EU. We must stop pumping up the US military industry with European funds. Own defense industry first, own IT first. Don't move data to the US.
Reroute our minds and keep united. Unity is the best weapon againt TACO-boy.
@randahl I think it is important to stick with functionally sensible economic self-defence. Don't make it look like a vendetta. Unstable and anti-competitive companies, like all of Musks endeavours need to face strict policing of *all* regulations. GDPR, labour-laws, anti-disinfo-regulations. EU competition-regulations. Fines, forced break-ups and sell-offs. Maybe banning X ? They would be legitimately counteracting the harms he does. If he finances Tommy Robinson, freeze those assets. @hadon
@randahl @hadon When tit = personal persecution using the power of government, no actually legitimate government should respond with tat - all we'd be doing is play the game dictated by them.
The correct response is something like "This is a deliberate state act of hostility & the US will be considered a foreign aggressor until proven otherwise", placing appropriate sanctions upon the nation as a whole, e.g. expulsion of envoys & military, strict regulation or elimination on US business etc.
@johnlogic @jwcph @randahl
Or without even increasing taxes, inform our citizens of the situation so that out of their own they won't buy Tesla (as it happened a few months ago 😉 )
@johnlogic @randahl @hadon - and also, lift bans on reverse-engineering US tech & let European vendors take them apart, repair them, copy them...
... Chinese may be doing that already, don't they?
I think we don't even need that. I mean, we don't need to copy anyone, we have enough brainpower in EU for innovation.
@jwcph
First of all, this must have consequences, or it will repeat and expand.
Second, Trump must care about the consequences. He does not care about America or any person but himself, but he needs some of them from time to time. So find the people he needs and block their shopping trip to Milan, their cottage in Ireland or whatever. And make plans for the next steps if he escalates.
And since this seems to be a lot about Elon, do the samebfor him.
@randahl @hadon
Well, they are trying to intimidate us, that's all, so the best consequences would be not to cede, not one millimeter 😉 Nope, the EU is not afraid; we'll continue defending our regulations, our values, ideas and most of all our unity and freedom.
@jwcph
First of all, this must have consequences, or it will repeat and expand.
Second, Trump must care about the consequences. He does not care about America or any person but himself, but he needs some of them from time to time. So find the people he needs and block their shopping trip to Milan, their cottage in Ireland or whatever. And make plans for the next steps if he escalates.
@randahl @hadon
"I'm still amazed at how quickly Trump and Putin transformed the once proud and noble Party of Lincoln into just another simple rabble of seditious and treasonous playground bullies.
I'm not kidding, it really is startling and amazing. I mean my goodness, it only took two or three years."
SearingTruth
And some others amerikkkans should be declared Persona non Grata in Europe .
phew, so so.
Breton promised fedifunding which never came. Then he changed to the Bank Of America https://www.lobbycontrol.de/pressemitteilung/thierry-breton-wechsel-zur-bank-of-america-beschaedigt-glaubwuerdigkeit-der-eu-119463/
lobby strikes back …
We should all read Thierry Breton's powerful article to understand why he is being targeted:
The world’s digital empires are jostling for power – in Europe, we can’t afford to be useful idiots
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/nov/18/europe-digital-us-online-safety-laws
BT Free is a non-profit organization founded by @ozoned@btfree.social . It's goal is for digital privacy rights, advocacy and consulting. This goal will be attained by hosting open platforms to allow others to seamlessly join the Fediverse on moderated instances or by helping others join the Fediverse.
