Two British social media activists are among five people denied US visas after the State Department accused them of trying to “coerce” US tech platforms into suppressing free speech.
Imran Ahmed, a former Labor Party adviser who now heads the Center to Counter Digital Hate (CCDH), and Claire Melford, CEO of the Global Disinformation Index (GDI), have been labeled “radical activists” by the Trump administration and banned from entering the US.
The former EU commissioner for France and two senior figures from a German anti-internet hate group were also denied visas.
French President Emmanuel Macron called it “intimidation” and the UK government said it was “fully committed” to protecting freedom of speech.
“While each country has the right to set its own visa rules, we support laws and institutions that work to protect the internet from the most harmful content,” a UK government spokesman said.
The US has called the measures a response to people and organizations who have advocated restrictions on US tech companies, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio saying they belong to a “global censorship-industrial complex”.
He said: “President Trump has made clear that his 'America First' foreign policy rejects violations of American sovereignty. The extraterritorial actions of foreign censors against American speech are no exception.”
Ahmed has connections to senior Labor Party figures. He was previously an assistant to Labor Secretary Hilary Benn, and Sir Keir Starmer's chief of staff Morgan McSweeney was director of the group he founded.
The US government has named Ahmed as a “co-author” of CCDH's alleged past work with the Biden administration. BBC News has contacted CCDH for comment.
In 2018, Melford founded GDI, a non-profit organization that tracks the spread of misinformation.
US Deputy Secretary of State Sarah B. Rogers accused GDI of using US taxpayer money “to call for the censorship and blacklisting of American speech and the press.”
A GDI spokesman told the BBC that “the visa sanctions announced today are an authoritarian attack on freedom of speech and a blatant act of government censorship.”
“The Trump administration is once again using the full weight of the federal government to intimidate, censor, and silence voices with which they disagree. Their actions today are immoral, illegal and un-American.”
Also targeted was Thierry Breton, the former chief technology regulator of the European Commission, who suggested a “witch hunt” was underway.
The State Department described Breton as the “initiator” of the EU's Digital Services Act (DSA), which imposes content moderation on social media companies.
However, it has angered some American conservatives who believe it attempts to censor right-wing views. Brussels denies this.
Breton has fallen out with Elon Musk, the world's richest man and owner of X, over commitments to follow EU rules.
The European Commission recently fined X €120 million (£105 million) for the blue tick badges. first DSA fine. It said the platform's blue tick system was “deceptive” because the firm “did not conduct meaningful user verification.”
In response, Musk's website blocked the Commission from advertising on its platform.
Reacting to the visa ban, Breton wrote on X: “To our American friends: censorship is not where you think.”
European leaders condemned the move, with Macron saying: “These measures constitute intimidation and coercion aimed at undermining European digital sovereignty.
“The Digital Rules of the European Union were adopted by the European Parliament and the Council through a democratic and sovereign process.”
The European Commission said it had “sought clarification” from the US and would “respond quickly and decisively to protect our regulatory autonomy from unjustified measures.”
Also banned were Anne-Lena von Hodenberg and Josephine Ballon of HateAid, a German organization that the State Department said helped enforce the DSA.
In a statement to the BBC, both director-generals called it “an act of repression by a government that increasingly ignores the rule of law and seeks to silence its critics by any means necessary.”
They added: “We will not be intimidated by a government that uses accusations of censorship to silence those who speak out for human rights and freedom of expression.”
