Trump bans two Britons from US for ‘curbing American free speech’ | Politics | News | EUROtoday

Donald Trump’s authorities has banned two Britons from the US for allegedly searching for to curb free speech amongst Americans on-line.

Ex-Labour adviser Imran Ahmed is considered one of 5 Europeans accused of main “efforts to coerce American platforms to punish American viewpoints they oppose”, in response to US secretary of state Marco Rubio.

He is known to be primarily based within the US and faces being deported whereas Clare Melford, of the Global Disinformation Index (GDI), may have her visa revoked.

A French ex-EU commissioner and two senior figures at a Germany-based anti-online hate group have been additionally denied visas.

French President Emmanuel Macron led European condemnation of the transfer, describing it as “intimidation”.

The US billed the measures as a response to individuals and organisations which have campaigned for restrictions on American tech corporations, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio saying they belonged to a “global censorship-industrial complex”.

He mentioned: “President Trump has been clear that his America First foreign policy rejects violations of American sovereignty. Extraterritorial overreach by foreign censors targeting American speech is no exception.”

Mr Ahmed, from Manchester, is the chief govt of the Centre for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH). The organisation has beforehand listed Sir Keir Starmer’s chief of employees, Morgan McSweeney, as a director.

Mr Ahmed beforehand advised the Triggernometry podcast that the origin of CCDH got here whereas working as an adviser to Labour MP Hilary Benn, who was shadow overseas secretary on the time.

He has mentioned he was impressed to start out the organisation after seeing the rise of antisemitism on the left within the UK and the homicide of his colleague, Jo Cox MP, by a white supremacist, who was radicalised, partly, on-line.

Records at Companies House present Mr McSweeney resigned from CCDH in April 2020, the time at which Sir Keir grew to become chief of the Labour Party.

Elon Musk additionally declared “war” on the CCDH in October 2024, branding it a “criminal organisation”.

Thierry Breton, the previous prime tech regulator on the European Commission, was additionally focused. Also topic to bans have been Anna-Lena von Hodenberg and Josephine Ballon of HateSupport, a German organisation that the State Department mentioned helped implement the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA), which imposes content material moderation on social media corporations.

A GDI spokesman mentioned that “the visa sanctions announced today are an authoritarian attack on free speech and an egregious act of government censorship”.

“The Trump Administration is, once again, using the full weight of the federal government to intimidate, censor, and silence voices they disagree with. Their actions today are immoral, unlawful, and un-American.”

A UK Government spokesman mentioned: “The UK is fully committed to upholding the right to free speech.

“While 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 content.

“Social 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.”