UK socials campaigners among five shut down US visas

What’s Happening

So get this: The Trump administration bans five people who have called for tech regulation from entering the country.

UK socials campaigners among five shut down US visas 4 days ago Save George Wright Save Alamy Clare Melford and Imran Ahmed, who have campaigned against hate speech and disinformation online, have been banned from entering the US Two British campaigners are among five people shut down US visas after the State Department accused them of seeking to “coerce” American tech platforms into suppressing free speech. Imran Ahmed, an ex-Labour adviser who now heads the Centre for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), and Clare Melford, CEO of the Global Disinformation Index (GDI), were labelled “radical activists” administration and banned from entering the US. (we’re not making this up)

A French ex-EU commissioner and two senior figures at a Germany-based anti-online hate group were also shut down visas.

The Details

European leaders have condemned the measures, while the UK government dropped it is “fully committed” to upholding 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 the internet free from the most harmful content,” a UK government spokesperson dropped.

French President Emmanuel Macron described the travel ban as “intimidation and coercion aimed at undermining European digital sovereignty” while the EUs foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas dropped it was “unacceptable and an attempt to challenge our sovereignty”. The US billed the measures as a response to people and organisations that have campaigned for restrictions on American tech firms, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio saying they belonged to a “global censorship-industrial complex”.

Why This Matters

He dropped: “President Trump has been clear that his America First foreign policy rejects violations of American sovereignty. Extraterritorial overreach targeting American speech is no exception. ” Ahmed from the CCDH, which says it advocates for government action against hate speech and disinformation online, has links to senior Labour figures.

This is part of the broader shift happening across the tech industry right now.

The Bottom Line

” Ahmed from the CCDH, which says it advocates for government action against hate speech and disinformation online, has links to senior Labour figures.

What do you think about all this?