> retaliation would mean more anti-US people selecting themselves into these projects.

Very few people are martyrs or want to become martyrs. Even fewer in places where life is generally fine and for a cause that isn't dire to their loved ones.

They are not civil servants.

Similarly UK OfCom is a non governmental organisation, so not civil servants either.

Wasn't this one of the factors leading to the EU's new payments network?

>They are not the ones with the power to decide what happens

This is a very naive interpretation. Bureaucrats have MASSIVE amount of power and control, and in actuality decide many things and how the law is written.

Yes, civil servants should be allowed to ply their trade without scrutiny.

These civil servants are effectively trying to bypass the US court. These civil servants yield considerable power what comes to the censorship, and the Whitehouse really really hates the idea that the EU can decide, not them, what is allowed. This will send a message that the US stands behind its companies and is not push around. If you want to push non-domestic enforcement, you need to be willing to stand behind the principles and be publicly ready to defend the censorship rulings you set forward.