{"id":658638,"date":"2025-12-27T23:05:40","date_gmt":"2025-12-27T23:05:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/658638\/"},"modified":"2025-12-27T23:05:40","modified_gmt":"2025-12-27T23:05:40","slug":"we-reject-brits-who-censor-the-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/658638\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018We reject Brits who censor the US\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

As most of the country wound down for Christmas, the Trump administration had other ideas. On Tuesday night, the State Department announced sanctions against five Europeans. The charge? Not corruption, terrorism or espionage. Instead, it was crimes against freedom of speech. <\/p>\n

After Marco Rubio, the secretary of state, announced the sanctions, Sarah Rogers, the undersecretary of state for public diplomacy, followed up with details of the five individuals, who include the former European commissioner, Thierry Breton, and two British citizens, Imran Ahmed and Clare Melford.<\/p>\n

She said Ahmed, head of the Centre for Countering Digital Hate<\/a>, and Melford, chief executive of the Global Disinformation Index, were guilty of \u201cextraterritorial censorship of Americans\u201d. \u201cOur message is clear,\u201d she said: \u201cif you spend your career fomenting censorship of American speech, you\u2019re unwelcome on American soil.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the hours that followed, tweets from Rogers detailing the sanctions quickly went viral. Elon Musk, the owner of X, was one of many Americans to celebrate, replying: \u201cThis is so great.\u201d In contrast, European diplomats shared outrage and suggested Big Tech was calling the shots (President Macron has accused Washington of \u201ccoercion and intimidation\u201d).<\/p>\n

\u2022 Sign up for The Times\u2019s weekly US newsletter<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

Five days on and facing legal action from one recipient \u2014 Ahmed \u2014 Rogers says the administration stands by its \u00addecision. \u201cThese are people who in many cases took government money to destroy American businesses for the purpose of suppressing American speech,\u201d Rogers said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs Secretary Rubio stated, we stand ready and willing to expand our sanctions list. That doesn\u2019t mean we want to.\u201d She added: \u201cThese are, ultimately, serious decisions that rest with the secretary of state and take into account all of our foreign policy priorities. But free speech is one of those priorities, and so is the continued ability of the American tech sector to lead and innovate. If an AI chatbot calls a politician \u2018fat\u2019 and this leads to a criminal investigation in Germany, AI innovation is obviously chilled.\u201d <\/p>\n

Freedom of speech is becoming an increasingly sore point between the US and Europe. American politicians cite as evidence of the problem pro-life campaigners jailed for breaking abortion buffer zones and the arrest of the Father Ted co-creator Graham Linehan<\/a> over his views on challenging \u201ca trans-identified male\u201d in \u201ca female-only space\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"Graham<\/p>\n

Graham Linehan was cleared of harassment in November at Westminster magistrates\u2019 court<\/p>\n

BEN WHITLEY\/PA<\/p>\n

The White House\u2019s recent national security strategy<\/a> warned that Europe risks \u201ccivilisational erasure\u201d as a result of a toxic mix of mass migration and censorship of free speech. <\/p>\n

What does Rogers say to those who feel there is one standard being applied to Europe and the UK whereas less natural allies \u2014 such as Russia \u2014 get let off lightly?<\/p>\n

\u201cWe already have sanctions against Russia and Iran, and those sanctions are far more extensive,\u201d she said. Europe naturally became \u201chigh-profile\u201d, she said, due to a range of factors such as the European Commission fining X \u20ac120 million for breaching its transparency obligations under the Digital Services Act. Another factor, Rogers said, was that \u201cthe western free world\u201d was one of the \u201cfundamental alliance clusters of the postwar order that we want to honour and preserve in some way\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Trump administration is also paying attention to \u201cplaces like Australia, places like South Korea which are considering similar kinds of legislation\u201d.<\/p>\n

What about the Gulf States? This year Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates joined other Gulf nations in imposing restrictions on the popular US-based gaming platform Roblox.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think another prong of the strategy when you talk about Middle Eastern countries is we also want to consider the history and trajectory of a country,\u201d she said. \u201cSo if it\u2019s the case that in Britain and in Saudi Arabia you get punished in each country for blaspheming Islam but Saudi Arabia is moving incrementally away from that behaviour and Britain is incrementally intensifying it then we might respond differently in each case.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for the UK government, Rogers sparked headlines last week when she retweeted a post on X of her in a Santa hat with the caption \u201cHey McSweeney. Merry Christmas.\u201d <\/p>\n

This led to claims that she was taunting the Downing Street chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney<\/a>, who is a friend of Ahmed (the pair set up the Centre for Countering Digital Hate together). Rogers said this was a misunderstanding: \u201cThe media coverage treats this as this sly Straussian taunt. But really it was the opposite of that. It was a festive Christmas retweet.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Government<\/p>\n

Morgan McSweeney co-founded the Centre for Countering Digital Hate<\/p>\n

PETER MACDIARMID\/SHUTTERSTOCK<\/p>\n

Rogers said that the administration\u2019s main hope was for a \u201csane resolution\u201d on this. What would she like to see from the UK side? \u201cA theme of it would be that American speech on American platforms on American soil, about American politics, gets governed by the American First Amendment [protecting free speech], period.\u201d She said that didn\u2019t mean there aren\u2019t other grounds to negotiate on. The paused tech prosperity deal<\/a>, she suggested, was an area where the US and UK could work together.<\/p>\n

Rogers began her role in October after a career as a lawyer fighting censorship. She has quickly made freedom of speech a key plank of her brief \u2014 embarking on what is effectively a \u201cfreedom of speech\u201d tour of the UK and Europe early on. While in Milan she saw a tweet from a European diplomat criticising JD Vance, the vice-president, for talking about censorship in Europe \u2014 declaring there wasn\u2019t any. She had \u201ca completely off the cuff\u201d reaction and recorded a video listing things that Brits and Europeans have been in trouble with the law for saying. It received more than seven million views. The response, she said, was largely encouraging. \u201cThere were numerous supportive messages on Twitter and in person. I had never really been recognised by strangers in public before and that did happen in a couple of instances.\u201d<\/p>\n

A former State Department intern, Rogers started off in New York as a \u201cgeneric sort of big law firm corporate lawyer\u201d in a \u201cmedia class scene\u201d that \u201cwent woke early\u201d. She developed an interest in clients who faced uphill battles when the arguments \u201cagainst them aren\u2019t just technical or regulatory, they are targets of moral panics\u201d. She has represented the tobacco industry and the gun lobby as well as working against censorship, such as in the case of the late conservative activist Charlie Kirk. <\/p>\n

\"Charlie<\/p>\n

Charlie Kirk<\/p>\n

MICHAEL HO WAI LEE\/SOPA IMAGES\/LIGHTROCKET\/GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n

The Trump administration faces claims of hypocrisy over its sanctions. The Labour MP Chi Onwurah said: \u201cBanning people because you disagree with what they say undermines the free speech the administration claims to seek.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2022 Gerard Baker: Now Maga world struggles with free speech<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

The Lib Dems have gone further, suggesting that a forthcoming government inquiry into interference by hostile foreign states in the UK should be extended to cover the actions of Trump\u2019s America. Rogers said: \u201cThe UK\u2019s internet regulator, Ofcom, has declared its intent to enforce British law against Americans in America. Americans have unsurprisingly objected. Characterising this as \u2018interference\u2019 in British affairs is too ridiculous to warrant a response.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, too, is the Liberal Democrat reaction to our national security strategy \u2014 a document which states that we want to support our allies in preserving the freedom and security of Europe.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a longstanding foreign policy plank, a basis of our Nato mutual defence pact, and a theme which has surfaced repeatedly in our support for Ukraine.\u201d<\/p>\n

What does Rogers say to those who contend that America is acting in a hostile manner to the UK\/EU and curtailing the free speech of these citizens? For example, one idea being considered by the US government is to make disclosure of an individual\u2019s past five years of social media history mandatory for the visa waiver programme.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is just a proposal submitted for comment by our customs agency \u2014 it is not American law,\u201d she said. However, she suggested there was some merit to the idea. \u201cHaving said that, if somebody did come to America and conduct a terrorist attack, and we discovered that on the day he applied for his visa he tweeted \u2018death to America\u2019, we\u2019d feel remiss for having welcomed him in. So this is a reasonable issue for countries to consider, but nothing has been enacted.\u201d<\/p>\n

Part of Rogers\u2019s soft power brief is cultural, which means she will be focusing on America\u2019s 250th birthday in July and its forthcoming Decade of Sport, which includes the Fifa World Cup.<\/p>\n

\"Donald<\/p>\n

President Trump with Gianni Infantino, the Fifa president, at a White House event for the World Cup<\/p>\n

JONATHAN ERNST\/REUTERS<\/p>\n

There are statistics suggesting that the number of Britons travelling to America is falling amid fear of interrogation by US immigration and customs enforcement (Ice) and a generally frosty reception: the number of UK residents visiting the US was down 14.3 per cent in March. What\u2019s her message to Britons wondering if it\u2019s worth the trip \u2014 is the US still a welcoming place? \u201cIt is, and I hope more Brits and Europeans visit,\u201d she said. \u201cThe sanctions issued last week are laser-targeted at specific, high-profile individuals whose presence in America impairs our foreign policy. <\/p>\n

\u201cAgain, if your purpose in America is to destroy American businesses or curtail American citizens\u2019 free speech, it\u2019s not in our interest to let you benefit from our hospitality, our job markets, or our institutions. But that\u2019s not most Brits.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rogers said that while Britons don\u2019t generally need visas to visit America, there were plans to make the system more convenient and efficient, employing more than 450 visa officers for those who needed an appointment slot before the World Cup. <\/p>\n

Visitors in transit in American airports would no longer need to remove their shoes, Rogers added, reflecting \u201cthe America we want: one that\u2019s safe and sane, where we target a small number of malicious actors so that law-abiding citizens aren\u2019t tyrannised. You get to keep your shoes on, and you get to say what you want online, too.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As most of the country wound down for Christmas, the Trump administration had other ideas. On Tuesday night,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":658639,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5311],"tags":[49,978,659],"class_list":{"0":"post-658638","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"tag-united-states","9":"tag-us","10":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115794041396072828","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/658638","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=658638"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/658638\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/658639"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=658638"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=658638"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=658638"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}