Imran Ahmed, the British chief executive of the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), has been barred from the United States by the Trump administration and faces possible deportation. Ahmed, who lives lawfully in Washington DC with his American wife and daughter, was granted a temporary restraining order on Thursday to block any removal or detention.
Ahmed accused tech companies of acting with 'sociopathic greed' and seeking to avoid accountability. He said they are 'corrupting the system' of politics through the influence of big money. His work on transparency for social media and AI firms led to an unsuccessful lawsuit from Elon Musk's X.
The State Department barred five European nationals, including former EU commissioner Thierry Breton, accusing them of leading 'organised efforts to coerce American platforms to censor, demonetise and suppress American viewpoints.' A State Department official said: 'If you spend your career fomenting censorship of American speech, you’re unwelcome on American soil.'
Ahmed, who has not yet received formal notification, expressed confidence that his First Amendment rights will be upheld. The next court hearing on Monday is expected to confirm the protective order. He spent Christmas away from his family due to the legal battle.
CCDH previously angered Musk with reports on racist and extremist content on X, and recently released a report on harmful answers from ChatGPT about suicide and self-harm. Ahmed said, 'No one likes being exposed as mendacious or hypocritical, but they call their friends in government or their pitbull litigation lawyers and start suing.'
