Barry Lynn Condemns Travel Bans on European Citizens

Instead of confronting the dangers of oligarchy, the Trump administration targets the very people crafting the laws needed to protect our freedoms

Washington, DC - Yesterday evening, the US government announced travel bans on five European citizens, on the theory that their efforts to regulate the behavior of dominant online communications platforms amounted to censorship of American citizens. In response, Open Markets Institute Executive Director Barry Lynn released the following statement:

“American democracy faces its gravest threat in over two centuries: the freedom of speech, inquiry, and the press is under attack. This threat comes from a handful of all-powerful online platforms that dominate how we share information, manipulate what we think, and wield influence over both public discourse and political action. These corporations are not only undermining democracy at home—they are exporting this threat to America’s allies abroad.

Yet instead of confronting this danger, the Trump administration targets the very people working to understand it and to craft the laws and rules needed to protect our freedoms, like Breton. In doing so, the administration abandons its Constitutional duty to safeguard the most basic rights of every American, regardless of political affiliation, leaving all of us vulnerable to these private autocrats.

The administration must stop acting as enablers for oligarchs intent on dismantling democracy and imposing systems of total control. Officials need look no further than the first Trump Administration’s efforts against Google, Facebook, and Amazon for a roadmap—proving that meaningful action is possible.

America must also stand with allies in Europe and across the world: their fight is inseparable from ours. And for America’s political parties, particularly Democrats, confronting this threat requires acknowledging their own role in empowering information autocrats and in failing to build consensus with those who sought to apply tried-and-true regulatory frameworks to rein in these powers.”

Also relevant: 

• Earlier this year, the Open Markets Institute and ARTICLE 19 convened leading policymakers and thinkers from Europe and the U.S. to discuss the urgent need to counter Big Tech oligarchs and their weakening of Western democracies. 

• You can find video and summaries of these important and actionable discussions here.