Digital Sovereignty – Why Europe Must Not Allow Itself to Be Intimidated and How Noem Has Reached the Lowest Level of Propaganda

Emmanuel Macron found unusually clear words. The sanctions imposed by the Trump administration on former British and European officials were aimed at undermining Europe’s digital sovereignty. No diplomatic formula, no evasions. Instead, a sober naming of a power conflict that has long been conducted openly.

Washington speaks of “leading figures of a global censorship-industrial complex.” A term that explains little and reveals much. Regulation is turned into conspiracy, legal enforcement into oppression, responsibility into a threat. Anyone in Europe who insists that platforms must comply with rules is no longer regarded, in this logic, as a lawmaker but as an adversary.

“There will be no more U.S. taxpayer funds for hostile countries that hate us. Anyone who votes against the United States at the United Nations, chants ‘Death to America,’ or supports anti-American NGOs will receive no U.S. funding. Period.” -

Particularly ridiculous is the reference to American farmers. Aside from climatic extreme events - whose existence Trump is known to deny - it was above all his own policies that pushed many agricultural operations to the brink of ruin: trade wars, tariffs, lost export markets, and state compensation payments that merely concealed the damage. Shifting responsibility for this onto others is not analysis but a transparent attempt to evade blame. We have produced sufficient documentation on the situation of farmers. It shows above all one thing: Trump’s refusal to take responsibility for the consequences of his own actions.

The response from Brussels remained controlled but unmistakable. Clarifications are being demanded, while at the same time it is made clear that swift and decisive action will be taken should Europe’s regulatory autonomy be attacked by unjustified measures. This is not escalation but self-respect. A legal order that takes its own rules seriously cannot place them up for negotiation simply because they are politically inconvenient elsewhere.

This line is politically bankrupt and historically dishonest. The United States is a country of immigration, and a large share of its population has migrant roots - including those who today rail against it most loudly. Demonizing migration means denying the foundations of the country itself. That is not strength but an expression of ideological stupefaction.

At the same time, it becomes clear at what level parts of the American government are now communicating. The Department of Homeland Security under Kristi Noem released an AI-generated video depicting Santa Claus as an ICE agent carrying out deportations - packaged as festive entertainment. This is not a tasteless footnote but a political signal. State violence is trivialized, dehumanization aestheticized, deportation turned into a punchline. Anyone who communicates this way has abandoned any claim to dignity.

For precisely this reason, Europe should not now exercise false restraint. Sanctions are not a sacred principle but political leverage when the orchestra no longer functions at all. The United States is economically, technologically, and security-wise dependent on Europe. That is no secret but a well-known fact. In truth, everyone knows this - with one remarkable exception. Donald Trump appears to be the only one who believes America can permanently operate without Europe.

Fear of retaliation is part of the game. Anyone who takes digital sovereignty seriously must also defend it. Europe has set rules because for years there was a willingness to look the other way. These rules apply. And they apply regardless of whether they trigger jubilation in the White House or not. What collides here are two political cultures. On one side, a legal order that demands responsibility. On the other, a power that responds to criticism with entry bans, arrests, threats, and propaganda clips. The question is not whether this conflict exists, because from the American side it is being conducted in a pitiful manner. It will not be decided in videos, insults, or artificially generated drama. It will be decided by whether Europe is prepared to defend its own standards. Anyone who interprets digital rules as an attack has never accepted the principle of law. And anyone who turns Santa Claus into a border agent should not be surprised if, at some point, no one believes them anymore.

But a large part of the American people should also begin to ask themselves uncomfortable questions. The dream that America can do everything alone exists only in Trump’s fairy-tale book. Reality is different - economically, politically, in terms of security. And the awakening from this illusion is likely to be harsher than many are currently willing to admit. America 2025 - we will see this reality again in the coming hours, when we bring personal items into ICE detention facilities, to people who are sitting in detention despite being innocent and who realize that they are being supported, that they are not forgotten.