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The UK government has said it is “fully committed” to upholding free speech, after the United States slapped visa bans on five prominent Europeans working in the tech sphere, including two Britons.
“While every country has the right to set its own visa rules, we support the laws and institutions which are working to keep the Internet free from the most harmful content,” a British government spokesperson said.
“The UK is fully committed to upholding the right to free speech,” the spokesperson added.
The US State Department on Tuesday imposed sanctions on British nationals Imran Ahmed of the Centre for Countering Digital Hate and Clare Melford, head of the UK-based Global Disinformation Index, as well as former EU commissioner Thierry Breton and two others.
It accused them all of promoting censorship crackdowns by foreign states in each case targeting American speakers and American companies.
It follows Washington ramping up its attacks on EU regulations after Brussels earlier this month fined Elon Musk’s X (formerly Twitter) for violating rules on transparency in advertising and its methods for ensuring users were verified and actual people.
President Donald Trump’s administration has also aimed at the UK, criticising its Online Safety Act and raising concerns over free speech.
In August, the State Department flagged alleged restrictions on expression in Britain, and last week the White House suspended a multi-billion-dollar US-UK tech cooperation deal, reportedly over opposition to the country’s technology regulations.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government, which has avoided openly criticising the Trump administration, adopted a conciliatory stance over the suspension of the tech cooperation deal.
It said last week that it was focused on swiftly resuming talks on the agreement, which was signed during President Donald Trump’s high-profile state visit to the UK in September.
London’s response to Tuesday’s US sanctions was also more muted than that of other European countries, with French President Emmanuel Macron denouncing the move as “intimidation” and “coercion”, while Germany described it as “not acceptable”.
