The Trump administration has barred two British citizens and a former European Union commissioner from entering the United States, accusing them of attempting to restrict Americans’
freedom of expression online.
The US State Department said it had imposed sanctions on Imran Ahmed, founder of the Centre for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), and Clare Melford, a senior figure at the Global Disinformation Index (GDI), alleging they sought to pressure US technology companies into suppressing viewpoints they opposed. Mr Ahmed faces deportation, while Ms Melford’s US visa has been revoked.
Also targeted is Thierry Breton, the former European Commission commissioner responsible for digital policy, who US officials described as the architect of the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA). The legislation requires social media platforms to remove illegal or harmful content or face significant financial penalties.
The action follows a recent European Commission fine of €120 million (£105 million) against Elon Musk’s social media platform X, formerly Twitter, over its paid verification system, which regulators ruled was misleading to users.
Responding to his US entry ban, Mr Breton posted on X: “To our American friends: censorship isn’t where you think it is.”
US Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy Sarah B Rogers accused the individuals of engaging in what she described as “extraterritorial censorship of Americans”. In a series of posts, she said European activists and regulators had coordinated efforts to coerce US-based platforms into restricting speech protected under the First Amendment.
“For far too long, ideologues in Europe have led organised campaigns to punish American viewpoints they oppose,” she said. “The Trump administration will no longer tolerate these acts of extraterritorial censorship.”
Mr Ahmed, a Cambridge graduate who is reportedly based in Washington DC, previously worked as a political adviser to the Labour Party, serving MPs Andy Slaughter and Hilary Benn, and later led communications for Angela Eagle’s 2016 Labour leadership campaign.
He founded the CCDH in 2018, citing concerns over antisemitism and online radicalisation following the murder of Labour MP Jo Cox. Records show that Morgan McSweeney, now Sir Keir Starmer’s chief of staff, served as a director of the organisation until April 2020.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, the CCDH published its “Disinformation Dozen” report, identifying individuals it claimed were responsible for a large share of vaccine misinformation, including US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. In 2023, Mr Musk sued the group over claims that X had become a hub for hate speech and misinformation; the lawsuit was dismissed in March 2024. A later leaked document suggested the group had identified “kill Musk’s Twitter” as one of its internal priorities.
Ms Rogers also accused Ms Melford’s GDI of using public funds to promote censorship and blacklist American media outlets. The Mail said it had contacted both organisations for comment.
In addition, the US has barred Anna-Lena von Hodenberg and Josephine Ballon of HateAid, a German anti-disinformation group, which US officials said helped enforce the EU’s digital rules. HateAid told BBC News the move amounted to “repression by a government increasingly disregarding the rule of law”.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the sanctions were part of a broader campaign to counter what he described as foreign interference in US free speech.
“President Trump’s America First foreign policy rejects violations of American sovereignty,” he said. “Extraterritorial overreach by foreign censors targeting American speech is no exception.”
Mr Rubio warned the list could be expanded unless foreign governments reversed course.
The move comes weeks after Ms Rogers criticised the UK’s Online Safety Act, arguing it applied British regulation to American platforms and users. She said legislation currently before the US Congress — known as the GRANITE Act — could allow US companies and individuals to sue foreign regulators, including Ofcom, and render any fines against US firms unenforceable.
“If the British government insists on trying to nullify the First Amendment on American soil,” she said, “we will consider other options.” Photo by Gulbenk, Wikimedia commons.