US Denies Visas to Five Campaigners Curbing American Tech Platforms, Sparking International Backlash
The United States has denied visas to five individuals, including two British campaigners, Imran Ahmed and Clare Melford. Ahmed is described by the Trump administration as a radical activist. Other visa bans encompass Thierry Breton, Anna-Lena von Hodenberg, and Josephine Ballon of the German HateAid group.
The US government states that these measures target individuals and organizations campaigning to regulate American technology platforms. Senator Marco Rubio described this as a response to a global censorship-industrial complex and supported maintaining an America First stance.
The UK government expressed support for free speech and internet freedom to protect users from harmful content while acknowledging that visa rules are the sovereign decision of each country.
Imran Ahmed has political links to the Labour Party, having served as an aide to Hilary Benn, with Morgan McSweeney, former chief of staff to Keir Starmer, also having ties to the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) as a director. The US labeled Ahmed a collaborator due to the CCDH’s prior cooperation with the Biden administration.
The Global Disinformation Index (GDI) criticized the visa sanctions as an authoritarian attack on free speech and a form of government censorship. However, US Undersecretary of State Sarah B. Rogers accused GDI of using American taxpayer funds to promote censorship and blacklist speech within the United States.
The European Union's reaction included President Emmanuel Macron describing the move as intimidation and coercion, while the EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas called it unacceptable and a challenge to European sovereignty.
