{"id":2572514,"date":"2026-02-23T08:18:01","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T13:18:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/state-department-works-to-revoke-visa-of-u-k-operative-who-allegedly-censored-the-federalist-other-americans\/"},"modified":"2026-02-23T08:21:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T13:21:13","slug":"state-department-works-to-revoke-visa-of-u-k-operative-who-allegedly-censored-the-federalist-other-americans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/state-department-works-to-revoke-visa-of-u-k-operative-who-allegedly-censored-the-federalist-other-americans\/","title":{"rendered":"Rubio Works To Yank Visa Of UK Ally Who Allegedly Censored Americans"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fstate-department-works-to-revoke-visa-of-u-k-operative-who-allegedly-censored-the-federalist-other-americans%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2572514&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>An investigative piece examines a little-noticed immigration case in a New York federal court that could have broad implications for US-British ties and global censorship debates. The State Department has announced it intends to revoke the visas of five foreigners accused of censoring Americans, with Imran Ahmed\u2014the British Labour operative and CEO of the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH)\u2014at the center of the case. The department claims Ahmed and the CCDH helped censor Americans and pressured US companies to censor, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/did-ohio-just-elect-the-next-ilhan-omar\/\" title=\"Did Ohio Just Elect The Next Ilhan Omar?\">citing internal memos<\/a> that describe Ahmed as a key collaborator with the biden administration on weaponizing U.S. policy to silence citizens. The article portrays a transatlantic network linking Ahmed to prominent UK Labour figures and officials, including Morgan McSweeney and various advisers, who allegedly cultivated policy influence related to the Online Safety Act and other censorship efforts. It details campaigns to silence dissenting voices (such as certain media outlets and Elon Musk\u2019s X) and suggests coordinated efforts in Brussels and washington to shape regulatory action against perceived online misinformation. The piece also highlights the close, sometimes opaque, relationships between CCDH, members of UK Parliament, and government departments, arguing that such ties raise questions about free speech, foreign influence, and the handling of censorship across borders. It concludes by presenting Ahmed\u2019s deportation case as a test of how censorship agendas can cross national lines and affect policy and politics in both the United States and Britain.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>As ICE sweeps in Minneapolis have drawn wide attention, a little-noticed immigration case playing out in a New York federal court has significant implications for America&rsquo;s relationship with Britain and the ongoing debate over global censorship.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>In late December, the State Department announced its intention to revoke the visas of five foreign individuals who have allegedly censored Americans. The most consequential member of this group is Imran Ahmed, a British Labour Party political operative now living in the U.S., who is the CEO of an influential nonprofit, the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/counterhate.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Center for Countering Digital Hate<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In documents&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.documentcloud.org\/documents\/26952350-state-department-filing-on-imran-ahmed\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">released Feb. 6 in federal court,<\/a>&nbsp;the State Department claims Ahmed and the Center have been key players in efforts to censor Americans.&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.documentcloud.org\/documents\/26952350-state-department-filing-on-imran-ahmed\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">A memo written by State Department Undersecretary Sarah Rogers<\/a>&nbsp;asserts that &ldquo;Ahmed was a key collaborator with the Biden administration on weaponizing the national security bureaucracy to censor U.S. citizens and pressure U.S. companies into censoring, and his group advocates for foreign regulatory action that extraterritorially impacts American citizens and companies.&rdquo;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>In a follow-up memo,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.documentcloud.org\/documents\/26952350-state-department-filing-on-imran-ahmed\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Secretary Marco Rubio wrote<\/a>&nbsp;that Ahmed had led efforts to censor Americans and harm U.S. media outlets, including ZeroHedge and The Federalist. &ldquo;I have determined that Ahmed&rsquo;s activities and presence in the United States have potentially serious <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-issues-memo-delaying-deportation-of-palestinians-in-u-s\/\" title=\"Biden delays ... of Palestinians in U.S\">adverse foreign policy consequences<\/a> and comprise a compelling U.S. foreign policy interest.&rdquo;&nbsp;Rubio asserted. While the Center casts itself as a disinterested nonprofit trying to stop online hate, Rubio noted that documents leaked from inside the group outline ambitious plans to &ldquo;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.racket.news\/p\/election-exclusive-british-advisors\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">kill Musk&rsquo;s Twitter<\/a>&rdquo; and &ldquo;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.racket.news\/p\/election-exclusive-british-advisors\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">trigger EU and UK regulatory action<\/a>.&rdquo;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Ahmed has a small army of lawyers working to halt his deportation proceedings, which are now being litigated. Ahmed&rsquo;s lead attorney is Roberta Kaplan &mdash; a former advisor to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo &mdash; who sued President Trump on behalf of his niece, Mary Trump. Ahmed is also represented by Norm Eisen, a Democratic Party fundraiser and former adviser to Obama. Last Thursday, they <a href=\"https:\/\/www.courtlistener.com\/docket\/72079865\/43\/ahmed-v-rubio\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">filed an updated court complaint<\/a>&nbsp;against the U.S. government to keep Ahmed in the United States.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>International Implications<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The effort to deport Ahmed has broader political implications because of the close ties he and his associates have to the highest reaches of the British government. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.msn.com\/en-us\/politics\/international-relations\/morgan-mcsweeney-the-rise-and-fall-of-sir-keir-starmer-s-right-hand-man\/ar-AA1VVnzY?ocid=BingNewsSerp3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Morgan McSweeney<\/a>, who co-founded the Center with Ahmed, is widely seen as the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/telegraph.com\/labour-together-rise-defeat-to-power\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">architect of Prime Minister Keir Starmer&rsquo;s Labour Party victory<\/a>&nbsp;in 2024. McSweeney served as Starmer&rsquo;s chief of staff until earlier this month, when he&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/politics\/2026\/feb\/08\/morgan-mcsweeney-brains-behind-labours-comeback-profile\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">resigned<\/a>&nbsp;because of a separate scandal connected to Jeffrey Epstein.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>U.K. government documents reviewed by RCI show that the organization&rsquo;s influence extends throughout Starmer&rsquo;s government. The Trump administration&rsquo;s pushback on Ahmed&rsquo;s weaponization of speech against U.S. citizens and companies suggests a deep concern about foreign intervention and censorship stemming from one of America&rsquo;s closest allies.<\/p>\n<p>In a recent&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=S431h_jMV98&amp;t=5s\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">interview with Undersecretary Rogers<\/a>, RCI noted that the State Department appeared to be<strong>&nbsp;<\/strong>&ldquo;knocking on the door of the prime minister&rsquo;s office.&rdquo; Rogers demurred, declining to detail her discussion with Starmer officials. &ldquo;We have a very special relationship with the British government,&rdquo;&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=S431h_jMV98&amp;t=5s\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">she responded<\/a>. &ldquo;The issue has been communicated.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Senior&nbsp;Labour Minister Chi Onwurah accused the Trump administration of attacking free speech after Rubio announced shortly before Christmas that the administration was seeking Ahmed&rsquo;s deportation. &ldquo;Banning people because you disagree with what they say undermines the free speech the administration claims to seek,&rdquo;&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/technology\/2025\/dec\/24\/undermines-free-speech-labour-mp-hits-back-at-us-government-over-visa-related-sanctions\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Onwurah said<\/a>, adding that Ahmed was an articulate advocate for greater regulation of online speech.<\/p>\n<p>However, internal British government documents show that Onwurah is one of Starmer&rsquo;s many advisers who have been working with Ahmed on activities many consider censorship. Ahmed and Onwurah did respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Weaponizing Censorship<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The Center for Countering Digital Hate grew out of the efforts of&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.labourtogether.uk\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Labour Together<\/a>, a think tank founded in 2015 to&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/everything.explained.today\/Labour_Together\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">undermine Jeremy Corbyn<\/a>, a far-left member of Parliament who led the Labour Party at the time. McSweeney, a leading figure in the organization, founded the Center around 2018 with Ahmed as a potent weapon to attack political enemies and advance narratives in the British media.<\/p>\n<p>In a tactic also&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.realclearinvestigations.com\/articles\/2021\/05\/13\/the_high-pressure_business_of_selling_woke_corporate_armor_776879.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">deployed by progressives in the U.S.<\/a>, the Center worked to silence voices it opposed by creating advertising blacklists to deprive disfavored media outlets of revenue. One <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >successful campaign involved constant claims<\/a> of &ldquo;misinformation&rdquo; and antisemitism lodged against the influential leftist news site Canary to drive away advertisers and tank their funding. &ldquo;Bye birdie! Hyper-partisan fake news website The Canary is on its last legs!&rdquo;&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/RachelRileyRR\/status\/1157275882010107904\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">tweeted British TV host<\/a>&nbsp;and Center campaigner Rachel Riley, celebrating a 2019 crash in The Canary&rsquo;s advertising.<\/p>\n<p>In 2021, Ahmed opened an office in Washington, D.C., and began working with American journalists&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/unherd.com\/newsroom\/the-murky-disinformation-group-trying-to-take-down-elon-musk\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">to censor dissent and enforce political narratives<\/a>&nbsp;friendly to Democrats and the Biden administration.&nbsp;The Center&rsquo;s&nbsp;chairman is Simon Clark, a former senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, a think tank&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/live-blog-updates\/2016\/10\/john-podesta-hillary-clinton-emails-wikileaks-000011\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">founded by John Podesta<\/a>,&nbsp;who ran Hillary Clinton&rsquo;s campaign against Donald Trump in the 2016 election.<\/p>\n<p>In 2021, the Center for Countering Digital Hate released a report targeting a &ldquo;disinformation dozen&rdquo; of critics complaining about the Biden administration&rsquo;s Covid vaccine policies. This report, released by an organization founded only months earlier in the United States, received a warm reception at the White House.<\/p>\n<p>At a July 2021 press briefing, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki quoted from the report while claiming that Facebook was undermining federal vaccine policies. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s about 12 people who are producing 65 percent of anti-vaccine misinformation on social media platforms,&rdquo; Psaki stated. Facebook criticized the Center&rsquo;s report for being free of evidence and failing to explain how they arrived at their numbers and conclusions.<\/p>\n<p>One of the people included in the &ldquo;disinformation dozen&rdquo; was Robert Kennedy Jr., who was considering a run against President Biden in the Democrats&rsquo; 2024 primaries. The Center&rsquo;s &ldquo;infamous &lsquo;disinformation dozen&rsquo; report specifically called for deplatforming Secretary Robert F. Kennedy and others,&rdquo;&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.documentcloud.org\/documents\/26952350-state-department-filing-on-imran-ahmed\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">wrote Secretary Rubio<\/a>&nbsp;in his memo calling for Ahmed&rsquo;s deportation.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Targeting Musk&rsquo;s X<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>In the summer of 2023,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/disinformationchronicle.substack.com\/p\/election-exclusive-british-advisors\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">the Center hosted a private conference<\/a>&nbsp;in Washington for liberal groups allied with the Biden administration for the purpose of neutralizing the influence of X owner Elon Musk, who was helping to fund Trump&rsquo;s presidential campaign. The&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.documentcloud.org\/documents\/25256807-ccdh-conference-attendees-summer-2024\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">list of attendees<\/a>&nbsp;included Biden White House and State Department officials, Democratic Party congressional staffers, union leaders, the heads of several progressive foundations, and employees of the hyper-partisan website Media Matters for America. While no Republicans or conservatives appear&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.documentcloud.org\/documents\/25256807-ccdh-conference-attendees-summer-2024\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">on the roster<\/a>, at least one member of the British foreign service is listed as an invited guest. Annabel Graham is a diplomat and national security professional based at the British Embassy in Washington. She previously&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mccaininstitute.org\/about\/nsct-fellows-2024-cohort\/annabel-graham\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">handled the Home Office&rsquo;s engagement<\/a>&nbsp;with the U.S. and Five Eyes partners.<\/p>\n<p>Working in parallel with Media Matters, the Center took aim at X&rsquo;s advertisers, just as it had the British Canary. After&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2023\/12\/01\/opinion\/if-dems-can-target-billionaire-elon-musk-to-control-speech-who-wont-they-target\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">the Center and Media Matters released reports<\/a>&nbsp;claiming that Musk&rsquo;s social media site was&nbsp;promoting &ldquo;hate,&rdquo; companies such as Disney announced they were pulling their advertising from X, triggering a crash in Musk&rsquo;s profits. Disney&rsquo;s CEO at the time, Bob Iger, was also a major donor to the Biden administration.<\/p>\n<p>Ahmed has also worked in Brussels to influence EU censorship laws. When European regulators first began targeting X for alleged disinformation in late 2023, Ahmed celebrated on social media, implying that his organization was behind the move. &ldquo;The @CCDHate has been briefing EU officials since October 7,&rdquo; he wrote, &ldquo;using our research on the tidal wave of hate and disinformation coming from social media.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;X has surged to become the leading news app in every EU country, serving tens of millions of Europeans who use the platform daily to access uncensored information,&rdquo; the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.documentcloud.org\/documents\/26952350-state-department-filing-on-imran-ahmed\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">State Department noted<\/a>&nbsp;in its filings to deport Ahmed.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Friends in High Places<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The Center&rsquo;s involvement in U.S. politics is especially fraught because of its close connections with Britain&rsquo;s leaders.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Ahmed began working hard to lobby the Labour government even before its landslide victory in July 2024. Weeks before the election, Ahmed emailed his staffers, looping them in with Josh Simons on his private Gmail to set up a meeting. &ldquo;Josh is head of Labour Together and is a key person in policy for the next Labour government,&rdquo; Ahmed wrote. Simons soon left the think tank to become a member of Parliament, where he is a close ally of Starmer.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/politics\/2026\/feb\/06\/labour-minister-intelligence-files-gathered-on-journalists-josh-simons\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The Guardian recently reported<\/a>&nbsp;that before his election to Parliament, Simons &ldquo;commissioned and reviewed a report in 2023 on journalists investigating the thinktank [Labour Together] that would help propel&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/politics\/keir-starmer\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Keir Starmer<\/a>&nbsp;to power.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>The Center even has its own members now operating in Parliament. One of the newly elected MPs, Kirsty McNeill, sat on the organization&rsquo;s board from late 2019 until her 2024 election to Parliament. McNeill was listed in&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.documentcloud.org\/documents\/26510484-ccdh-uk-staff-handbook\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">the Center&rsquo;s staff handbook<\/a>&nbsp;as a lead trustee, and the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.documentcloud.org\/documents\/26510490-mental-wellbeing-with-kirsty-mcneill-copy-redacted\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">group&rsquo;s mental well-being plan<\/a>&nbsp;provided McNeill&rsquo;s personal cell phone for their Mental Welfare Hotline. &ldquo;Please feel free to contact Kirsty if you have any concerns about your Mental Wellbeing that is not being addressed by CCDH and\/or your Line Manager.&rdquo;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Ahmed has also been working quite closely with the Department for Science, Innovation, and Technology, which is responsible for regulating speech in the U.K., including implementing the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/collections\/online-safety-act\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Online Safety Act<\/a>. Passed in 2023, the act put a &ldquo;range of new duties on social media companies and search services, giving them legal duties to protect their users from illegal content and content harmful to children.&rdquo; The Starmer government has taken pains to hide Ahmed&rsquo;s work with the department. When a British reporter&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.documentcloud.org\/documents\/26500558-nov-13-2024-email-on-roundtable-and-spectator-on-ccdh\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">asked the department to detail their relationship and work<\/a>&nbsp;with Ahmed and the Center, it told him to file a freedom of information request.<\/p>\n<p>Newly uncovered documents show that weeks after Labour won the 2024 election,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.documentcloud.org\/documents\/26500564-july-2024-letter-to-baroness-jones-dsit\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Ahmed wrote to Baroness Jones of Whitchurch,<\/a>&nbsp;whom Starmer appointed as a leading minister of the department. Ahmed introduced Jones to his work to &ldquo;outline the policy areas CCDH believes are critical to delivering your forthcoming agenda.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Ahmed highlighted that the Center had &ldquo;championed the Online Safety Act since its inception,&rdquo; and bragged that he was the &ldquo;first witness before the draft bill committee&rdquo; that had reviewed the act. He also&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.documentcloud.org\/documents\/26500564-july-2024-letter-to-baroness-jones-dsit\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">promised that the Center would<\/a>&nbsp;&ldquo;continue to be a critical partner to OFCOM,&rdquo; the U.K. regulator charged with enforcing the censorship act.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;We welcome the opportunity to work with your office as the UK leads the charge in online safety,&rdquo;&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.documentcloud.org\/documents\/26500564-july-2024-letter-to-baroness-jones-dsit\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Ahmed wrote<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Ahmed stepped up his lobbying in August 2024,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.documentcloud.org\/documents\/26500553-aug-8-2024-ccdh-letter-to-baroness-jones-dsit\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">writing once again to Jones<\/a>, &ldquo;Social media platforms cannot be a haven for those looking to sow division in our communities. &hellip; Please contact for further information or to arrange a briefing with CCDH.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Closed-Door Meeting<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Heavily&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.documentcloud.org\/documents\/26500562-nov-2024-mrf-and-ccdh-roundtable-with-minister-jones-nov-14\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">redacted documents show<\/a>&nbsp;that Ahmed met personally with senior department officials in early November 2024. This meeting led to a previously&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.documentcloud.org\/documents\/26500562-nov-2024-mrf-and-ccdh-roundtable-with-minister-jones-nov-14\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">unreported closed-door roundtable<\/a>&nbsp;with Baroness Jones and other prominent politicians. Documents show that Baroness Jones personally addressed the roundtable in her role as minister for online safety. Jones emailed CCDH organizers and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.documentcloud.org\/documents\/26500563-nov-2024-email-invite-mrf-and-ccdh-roundtable-invite\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">recommended that the meeting<\/a>&nbsp;&ldquo;focus on how best we can collectively monitor the impact the [Online Safety Act] is having and identify areas &mdash; based on evidence &mdash; of where further targeted interventions are needed.&rdquo;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Last July,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/fullfact.org\/technology\/science-committees-report-on-social-media-misinformation-and-harmful-algorithms\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">the department published a report<\/a>&nbsp;which argued that the act &ldquo;does not go far enough to address the spread of harmful misinformation.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Baroness Jones&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/people\/baroness-jones-of-whitchurch\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">left the department<\/a>&nbsp;to join the House of Lords in September, and the department did not respond to RCI&rsquo;s request for comment.<\/p>\n<p>Senior directors at&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ofcom.org.uk\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">OFCOM<\/a>, which is assessing and enforcing the Online Safety Act, were slated to attend this meeting, as was Simons and four other Labour MPs. Simons was&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/ministers\/parliamentary-under-secretary-of-state--296\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">appointed parliamentary undersecretary<\/a>&nbsp;to the department last month. He did not return requests for comment sent to his government and private email.<\/p>\n<p>Another guest&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.documentcloud.org\/documents\/26500561-nov-14-2024-email-on-mrf-and-ccdh-roundtable-on-osa-first-year\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">expected to attend<\/a> the private roundtable was Chi Onwurah, the MP who defended Ahmed when Secretary Rubio announced deportation proceedings.&nbsp;Onwurah chairs the&nbsp;Science and Technology Select Committee, which&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/committees.parliament.uk\/committee\/135\/science-innovation-and-technology-committee\/role\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">has oversight<\/a>&nbsp;of the&nbsp;Department for Science, Innovation, and Technology.<\/p>\n<p>Onwurah seems determined to obfuscate and mislead the media about her work with the Center. During a December&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=C81-G2XgPJg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">BBC interview,<\/a>&nbsp;she giggled when asked if the Center was a Labour Party front group that pushed through the Online Safety Act.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;The Online Safety Act was brought forward under the Conservatives and by the Conservative Party,&rdquo;&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=C81-G2XgPJg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Onwurah told the BBC<\/a>.&nbsp;Onwurah&rsquo;s claim is a poor attempt to recast recent history.<\/p>\n<p>Ahmed had, in fact, recruited at least one member of the Conservative Party.&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk\/officers\/4MPaqtfSYxkfdpUKTOpBHLNfTDc\/appointments\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Damian Collins joined the Center<\/a>&nbsp;in July 2020, and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/publications\/collins-damian-parliamentary-under-secretary-of-state-for-tech-and-digital-economy-at-the-department-for-digital-culture-media-and-sport-acoba\/advice-letter-damian-collins-member-of-the-advisory-board-center-for-countering-digital-hate\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">the British government<\/a>&nbsp;later published a decision&nbsp;allowing his membership with Ahmed&rsquo;s organization.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/committees.parliament.uk\/committee\/534\/draft-online-safety-bill-joint-committee\/news\/159784\/no-longer-the-land-of-the-lawless-joint-committee-reports\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">A Conservative Party MP<\/a>, Collins is&nbsp;the original sponsor of the Online Safety Act. And the first person&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/counterhate.com\/blog\/our-campaigning-resulted-in-the-online-safety-act-in-the-uk\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Collins had testify in favor<\/a>&nbsp;of the act was Imran Ahmed, his colleague at the Center.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>After Parliament passed the Online Safety Act, which Collins and Ahmed campaigned for,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/DamianCollins\/status\/1704160597535813794?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Collins celebrated on X<\/a>. Collins later left Parliament to&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.geradinpartners.com\/team\/damian-collins-obe\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">join Geradin Partners in London<\/a>&nbsp;to run the public policy practice at one of the leading law firms for digital regulation in Europe. Collins is also&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/orbisbi.com\/about-orbis\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">a director at Orbis<\/a>, a firm co-founded by former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele. Steele&rsquo;s now-debunked dossier, alleging ties between Trump&rsquo;s 2016 campaign and Russia, helped spark years of investigation that plagued Trump&rsquo;s first term.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The Trump White House has complained several times to the Starmer government about the Online Safety Act. Vice President J.D. Vance has said the law infringes on individual rights. When&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/tech\/internet\/us-politicians-care-britains-age-verification-law-rcna222857\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Vance accompanied an American delegation<\/a>to London last August, he said the Online Safety Act is taking the Starmer government down a &ldquo;very dark path&rdquo; of online censorship.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>This <a href=\"https:\/\/www.realclearwire.com\/articles\/2026\/02\/18\/deporting_censorship_us_targets_key_ally_of_british_government_over_free_speech_1165667.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">article<\/a> was originally published by RealClearInvestigations and made available via RealClearWire.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>US-UK censorship case in NY affects ties; five visas<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4177,"featured_media":2572515,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Trump-Secretary-Meeting.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[3884,6371,5438,74339,9242],"class_list":["post-2572514","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-americans","tag-censorship","tag-rubio","tag-uk-ally","tag-visa"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Trump-Secretary-Meeting.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2572514","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4177"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2572514"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2572514\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2572518,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2572514\/revisions\/2572518"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2572515"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2572514"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2572514"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2572514"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}