{"id":334367,"date":"2025-12-25T04:02:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-25T04:02:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/334367\/"},"modified":"2025-12-25T04:02:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-25T04:02:09","slug":"trump-administration-bans-two-british-free-speech-campaigners-from-us-as-censorship-row-escalates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/334367\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump administration bans two British free speech campaigners from US as censorship row escalates"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Two Britons who campaign against misinformation<\/a> and hate speech<\/a> online have been denied US visas after being accused of seeking to \u201ccensor\u201d Americans, as the UK government reaffirmed its stance to \u201cupholding the right to free speech\u201d.<\/p>\n

Imran Ahmed, an ex-Labour adviser and ally of Sir Keir Starmer<\/a> who now heads the Centre for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), and Clare Melford, CEO of the Global Disinformation Index (GDI) have been labelled \u201cradical activists\u201d by the Trump administration. <\/p>\n

The pair were among five Europeans, including European Commissioner Thierry Breton, barred from entering the US.<\/p>\n

US secretary of state Marco Rubio<\/a> said they had led \u201corganised efforts to coerce American platforms to censor, demonetise, and suppress American viewpoints they oppose\u201d. <\/p>\n

He added: \u201cThese radical activists and weaponised NGOs have advanced censorship crackdowns by foreign states – in each case targeting American speakers and American companies.\u201d <\/p>\n

The Trump administration has signalled the sanctions could be followed by further action, potentially targeting serving politicians or officials. <\/p>\n

\"Imran<\/p>\n

open image in gallery<\/p>\n

Imran Ahmed, the chief executive from the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), giving evidence to MPs (House of Commons)<\/p>\n

Mr Ahmed was previously an aide to Labour minister Hilary Benn and Sir Keir\u2019s influential chief of staff Morgan McSweeney served as a director at CCDH until 2020. He is reportedly based in the group\u2019s Washington office and so will face deportation from the country as a result of the visa ban. <\/p>\n

The visa bans are the latest move in a US campaign aimed at European rules intended to regulate social media. Trump officials have ordered US diplomats to build opposition to the European Union<\/a>\u2019s landmark Digital Services Act (DSA), which is intended to combat hateful speech, misinformation and disinformation, but which Washington says stifles free speech and imposes costs on tech companies. <\/p>\n

\"Thierry<\/p>\n

open image in gallery<\/p>\n

Thierry Breton, who was European Commissioner for Internal Market, has been banned from the US (AFP\/Getty)<\/p>\n

Following the ban, the UK government said it is \u201cfully committed to upholding the right to free speech\u201d, with a spokesperson saying: \u201cWhile every country has the right to set its own visa rules, we support the laws and institutions which are working to keep the internet free from the most harmful contact.<\/p>\n

\u201cSocial media platforms should not be used to disseminate child sex abuse material, incite hatred and violence, or spread fake information and videos for that purpose\u201d. <\/p>\n

Dame Chi Onwurah, the Labour chairwoman of the Commons Science, Innovation and Technology Committee, said: \u201cBanning people because you disagree with what they say undermines the free speech the administration claims to seek. We desperately need a wide-ranging debate on whether and how social media should be regulated in the interests of the people.<\/p>\n

\u201cImran Ahmed gave evidence to the select committee\u2019s inquiry into social media, algorithms and harmful content. He was an articulate advocate for greater regulation and accountability. Banning him won\u2019t shut down the debate, too many people are being harmed by the spread of digital hate.\u201d<\/p>\n

A GDI spokesperson said the visa sanctions on Ms Melford were \u201can authoritarian attack on free speech and an egregious act of government censorship\u201d. <\/p>\n

French former business executive Thierry Breton, who served as the European commissioner for the internal market from 2019-2024, was among those now banned from the US. Two senior figures from the German nonprofit HateAid were also denied visas. <\/p>\n

\"France\u2019s<\/p>\n

open image in gallery<\/p>\n

France\u2019s president Emmanuel Macron has said the move to ban social media regulators from the US was a form of \u2018intimidation\u2019 (AP)<\/p>\n

A European Commission spokesperson said it \u201cstrongly condemns the US decision\u201d, adding: \u201cFreedom of expression is a fundamental right in Europe and a shared core value with the United States across the democratic world\u201d. <\/p>\n

French president Emmanuel Macron<\/a> said: \u201cThese measures amount to intimidation and coercion aimed at undermining European digital sovereignty\u201d. He said that the EU\u2019s digital regulations would \u201censure fair competition among platforms, without targeting any third country, and to ensure that what is illegal offline is also illegal online\u201d. <\/p>\n

He added in a further statement on the social media platform X that he had spoken with Mr Breton and \u201cthanked him for his significant contributions in the service of Europe\u201d. <\/p>\n

Meanwhile Germany\u2019s justice ministry said that the two German\u2019s targeted had the government\u2019s \u201csupport and solidarity\u201d. They added that the visa bans were unacceptable and said: \u201cAnyone who describes this as censorship is misrepresenting our constitutional system\u201d. <\/p>\n

Terror law watchdog Jonathan Hall KC said the imposition of sanctions by the US was a \u201csignificant move\u201d.<\/p>\n

The independent reviewer of terror legislation told Times Radio: \u201cSanctions are generally reserved for really serious matters of foreign policy where a country feels that its own interests are being severely threatened or where the world order feels threatened.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":334368,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":["post-334367","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/334367","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=334367"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/334367\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/334368"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=334367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=334367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=334367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}