❓WHAT HAPPENED: The United States imposed sanctions targeting the international censorship-NGO ecosystem, focusing on visa-related measures against former officials and NGO leaders in Britain and the European Union (EU) involved in extraterritorial censorship of American speech.
👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: Under Secretary of State Sarah B. Rogers announced the sanctions. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and several foreign former figures, including Thierry Breton, Imran Ahmed, Clare Melford, Anna-Lena von Hodenberg, and Josephine Ballon, were involved.
📍WHEN & WHERE: The announcement was made on December 23, 2025, in the United States.
💬KEY QUOTE: “The Trump Administration will no longer tolerate these egregious acts of extraterritorial censorship.” – Marco Rubio
🎯IMPACT: The sanctions aim to prevent individuals who promote censorship of American speech from entering the U.S., reinforcing the administration’s stance against external censorship pressures.
Under Secretary of State Sarah B. Rogers announced on Tuesday that the United States has issued sanctions targeting the censorship-NGO ecosystem. These sanctions are specifically visa-related, aimed at British and European Union (EU) former officials and NGO leaders who have been involved in extraterritorial censorship of American speech.
Those named as having been sanctioned are former European Commissioner Thierry Breton, Imran Ahmed of the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), Clare Melford of the UK-based Global Disinformation Index, and Anna-Lena von Hodenberg and Josephine Ballon of Germany’s HateAid organization. Khan, in particular, has close ties to British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, whose chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, founded the CCDH.
All have been involved in various efforts to suppress speech and promote censorship, often collaborating with U.S. bureaucrats or supporting legislation like the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA). Notably, the DSA has been used to impose massive fines on U.S.-led and U.S.-based tech firms, in an effort to effectively extend the European censorship regime beyond its borders.
“The State Department is taking decisive action against five individuals who have led organized efforts to coerce American platforms to censor, demonetize, and suppress American viewpoints they oppose,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed in an official statement. “These radical activists and weaponized NGOs have advanced censorship crackdowns by foreign states—in each case targeting American speakers and American companies. As such, I have determined that their entry, presence, or activities in the United States have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States,” he added.
The sanctions do not involve severe Magnitsky-style financial measures but send a clear message that those who spend their careers promoting censorship of American viewpoints are not welcome on American soil. Under Secretary Rogers stressed that “None of those sanctioned is a current UK or EU official—however, we know that foreign government officials are actively targeting the United States.”
Secretary Rubio noted that today’s list of sanctioned individuals is illustrative rather than exhaustive and the State Department is prepared to expand it if necessary, stressing: “President Trump has been clear that his America First foreign policy rejects violations of American sovereignty. Extraterritorial overreach by foreign censors targeting American speech is no exception.”
Today, the United States issued SANCTIONS reinforcing the “red line” I invoked on @GBNEWS. Namely: extraterritorial censorship of Americans.
Today’s sanctions target the censorship-NGO ecosystem.🧵 https://t.co/kaefDo11uh
— Under Secretary of State Sarah B. Rogers (@UnderSecPD) December 23, 2025
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