{"id":656594,"date":"2025-12-26T21:18:15","date_gmt":"2025-12-26T21:18:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/656594\/"},"modified":"2025-12-26T21:18:15","modified_gmt":"2025-12-26T21:18:15","slug":"uk-campaigner-targeted-by-trump-accuses-tech-giants-of-sociopathic-greed-uk-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/656594\/","title":{"rendered":"UK campaigner targeted by Trump accuses tech giants of \u2018sociopathic greed\u2019 | UK news"},"content":{"rendered":"

A British anti-disinformation campaigner told by the Trump administration<\/a> that he faces possible removal from the US has said he is being targeted by arrogant and \u201csociopathic\u201d tech companies for trying to hold them to account.<\/p>\n

Imran Ahmed, the chief executive of the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), is among five European nationals<\/a> barred from the US by the state department after being accused of seeking to push tech firms to censor or suppress American viewpoints.<\/p>\n

Ahmed lives lawfully in Washington DC with his American wife and daughter, meaning he is at risk of deportation. Late on Thursday a court granted him<\/a> a temporary restraining order to block any attempt to remove him from the US or detain him.<\/p>\n

Ahmed told the Guardian he believed he had been singled out for his work seeking greater accountability and transparency for social media and AI firms, which has led to Elon Musk\u2019s X unsuccessfully suing CCDH<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Ahmed, who is a friend of Morgan McSweeney, Keir Starmer\u2019s chief of staff, said it was another attempt to deflect accountability and transparency.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis has never been about politics,\u201d he said, adding that his organisation had worked successfully with the first Trump administration<\/a> and would do so again if asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat it has been about is companies that simply do not want to be held accountable and, because of the influence of big money in Washington, are corrupting the system and trying to bend it to their will, and their will is to be unable to be held accountable,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no other industry, that acts with such arrogance, indifference and a lack of humility and sociopathic greed at the expense of people.\u201d<\/p>\n

The former European internal market commissioner Thierry Breton is among those to have been hit with a visa ban. Photograph: Bloomberg\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

As well as Ahmed, the state department has barred the former EU commissioner Thierry Breton. It accused the five people of leading \u201corganised efforts to coerce American platforms to censor, demonetise and suppress American viewpoints they oppose\u201d.<\/p>\n

Sarah Rogers, an official at the state department, posted on X<\/a>: \u201cOur message is clear: if you spend your career fomenting censorship of American speech, you\u2019re unwelcome on American soil.\u201d<\/p>\n

The sanctions are being seen as the latest attack on European regulations<\/a> that target hate speech and misinformation. Campaigners in the UK have said the British government could be targeted further if the Trump administration steps up its attacks on tech regulation.<\/p>\n

Ahmed, who began his career working with Labour politicians in Westminster, said he had not yet formally received any notification from the US government, and that he believed its case against him was unfounded. \u201cI\u2019m very confident that our first amendment rights will be upheld by the court,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The next court hearing, due on Monday, is expected to confirm the protective order that prevents the US government from detaining him, said Ahmed, who spent Christmas away from his wife and infant daughter amid the legal battle.<\/p>\n

He said this was \u201ca rational thing for us to do, given that in every other case to date where someone has had a green card withdrawn in the last few months, they have been arrested and detained and often spirited hundreds or thousands of miles away from their friends, family and support networks.\u201d<\/p>\n

The CCDH has previously angered Musk over reports chronicling the rise of racist, antisemitic and extremist content on X since he took it over. Musk tried unsuccessfully to sue the CCDH last year before calling it a \u201ccriminal organisation\u201d.<\/p>\n

More recently, the CCDH released a report warning about harmful answers<\/a> produced by the latest version of ChatGPT when asked about suicide, self-harm and eating disorders.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve seen that social media and AI companies are increasingly under pressure as a result of organisations like mine,\u201d Ahmed said. \u201cNo one likes being exposed as mendacious or hypocritical, but they call their friends in government or they call their pitbull litigation lawyers and start suing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ahmed said it was particularly jarring to be targeted given that hate speech and misinformation was increasingly a bipartisan issue, raised as a concern by some Republican politicians as well as Democrats.<\/p>\n

He said he was nonetheless ready to respond with a swift legal response when he heard the news. \u201cWhen you take on the world\u2019s biggest corporations and when you\u2019ve had the experiences we\u2019ve had, being sued by the world\u2019s richest man, you dissociate and compartmentalise immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n

There had been a cost already, he said. \u201cNothing I\u2019m going through compares to any of the parents I sit with who\u2019ve lost their children,\u201d Ahmed said. \u201cI chose to take on the biggest companies in the world, to hold them accountable, to speak truth to power. There is a cost attached to that. My family understands that.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe only time I felt any sadness at all is last night when my wife told me that our child said her sixth word, and then I cried a bit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked whether he thought UK politicians should continue to use X, Ahmed told PA: \u201cPoliticians have to make decisions for themselves, but every time they post on X, they are putting a buck in Mr Musk\u2019s pocket and I think they need to question their own consciences and ask themselves whether or not they think they can carry on doing that.\u201d<\/p>\n

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