US Bans UK NGO Chief for Using State Cash to 'Police' American Speech
KEY POINTS
- •Five European individuals, including Imran Ahmed and Clare Melford, received US visa bans for allegedly opposing American viewpoints.
- •Clare Melford leads the Global Disinformation Index, a UK NGO social media claims uses State Department funds to monitor and blacklist American speech.
- •US official Sarah Rogers publicly announced the sanctions, highlighting concerns over GDI’s focus on colonial narratives, hate speech, and far-right rhetoric online.
In a dazzling diplomatic tango this holiday season, five Europeans including Imran Ahmed and Clare Melford—head honcho of the UK-based Global Disinformation Index (GDI)—were slapped with US visa bans for allegedly trying to 'suppress American viewpoints they oppose.' Clare, backed by taxpayer dollars from the US State Department, runs a nonprofit monitoring 'hate speech' and 'disinformation,' especially targeting Canadian residential school skepticism as 'hate speech.' GDI has also cozied up with the EU's Code of Practice on Disinformation, policing everything from Indigenous land rights narratives to anti-2SLGBTQIA+ online hate. Sarah Rogers, US under secretary of state for public diplomacy, proudly announced this move on X (formerly Twitter) on a cozy December evening in 2025, proving free speech diplomacy is complicated when your NGO collects State Dept cash while blacklisting Americans.
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Nothing says 'free speech' like fining a foreign NGO for daring to tell Americans their views are full of misinformation. Next up: diplomatic summits on who’s the biggest snowflake!
Imagine funding a watchdog with your own money and then banning it from your home country for barking too loudly. The diplomatic version of 'I hate you, please leave.'
Nothing unites Americans like collective outrage at a UK NGO funded by US taxpayers for telling them their Twitter takes are hate speech. Unity achieved!
Source: Theguardian | Published: 12/24/2025 | Author: Andrew Sparrow
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