A prominent British campaigner against online disinformation, who has been told he faces potential removal from the United States, has launched a fierce attack on major technology companies, accusing them of 'sociopathic greed' and of corrupting the political system to avoid accountability.
Legal Battle and Accusations of Political Targeting
Imran Ahmed, the chief executive of the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), is one of five European nationals barred from entering the US by the State Department. The department accused the group of leading organised efforts to pressure American tech platforms into censoring or suppressing viewpoints they oppose.
Ahmed, who lives lawfully in Washington DC with his American wife and infant daughter, is now at risk of deportation. However, in a significant development late on Thursday, a US court granted him a temporary restraining order blocking any attempt to remove or detain him. The next hearing is scheduled for Monday.
In an exclusive interview, Ahmed told The Guardian he believes he is being targeted specifically for his organisation's work in demanding greater transparency and accountability from social media and artificial intelligence firms. 'This has never been about politics,' he stated, noting that CCDH had previously worked successfully with the first Trump administration.
A Stand Against 'Corrupting' Influence
Ahmed, a friend of Keir Starmer's chief of staff Morgan McSweeney, framed the issue as a battle against corporate power. 'What it has been about is companies that simply do not want to be held accountable,' he said. 'Because of the influence of big money in Washington, they are corrupting the system and trying to bend it to their will.'
He reserved his strongest criticism for the tech industry's attitude: 'There is no other industry that acts with such arrogance, indifference and a lack of humility and sociopathic greed at the expense of people.'
The State Department's move is widely seen as an attack on European regulations aimed at combating hate speech and misinformation. A department official, Sarah Rogers, posted on X that the message was clear: 'if you spend your career fomenting censorship of American speech, you’re unwelcome on American soil.'
Broader Context and Personal Toll
The CCDH has repeatedly drawn the ire of tech billionaires. Last year, Elon Musk's X (formerly Twitter) unsuccessfully sued the group after it published reports detailing a rise in racist and antisemitic content on the platform following Musk's takeover. Musk later labelled CCDH a 'criminal organisation'.
More recently, the centre released a report highlighting harmful responses generated by the latest version of ChatGPT regarding suicide and eating disorders. 'We’ve seen that social media and AI companies are increasingly under pressure as a result of organisations like mine,' Ahmed noted.
The personal cost of the legal battle has been high. Ahmed spent Christmas apart from his family as a precaution, fearing detention. 'The 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,' he revealed.
Despite the pressure, Ahmed remains defiant and prepared for a prolonged legal fight, stating he is 'very confident' that his First Amendment rights will be upheld by the courts.
