UK officials could be banned from the US as Team Trump says online safety laws are blocking Americans' 'free speech'
British officials involved in policing the UK's online safety laws could be banned from the United States after the Trump administration vowed to keep out foreign nationals it deems to be censoring Americans.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio lashed out at 'unacceptable' behaviour as he launched a new policy could target officials regulating US tech companies.
And Ofcom officials could be in the firing line, with the organisation responsible for moderating content consumed in the UK.
The Trump administration has already made clear its unhappiness at the UK's tech laws and the upcoming Online Safety Bill, which would tighten controls on who can access content online, as it seeks to help out billionaire-owned tech firms based in the US.
Mr Rubio did not name any specific instances of censorship. But US tech companies and the administration have challenged US allies in Europe, alleging censorship of social media platforms.
He said it was unacceptable for foreign officials to issue or threaten arrest warrants for social media posts made on US soil.
'It is similarly unacceptable for foreign officials to demand that American tech platforms adopt global content moderation policies or engage in censorship activity that reaches beyond their authority and into the United States,' Rubio said.
Some foreign officials have taken 'flagrant censorship actions against US tech companies and US citizens and residents when they have no authority to do so,' Rubio said.
It comes as the Trump administration faces accusations it is clamping down on freedom of speech inside America itself.
Earlier this week Mr Rubio directed officials to stop scheduling appointments with student visa applicants as they prepare to implement a social media vetting process on foreign students wanting to attend US colleges.
Trump officials have repeatedly weighed in on European politics to denounce what they see as suppression of right-wing politicians, including in Romania, Germany and France, accusing European authorities of censoring views like criticism of immigration in the name of countering disinformation.
In April, Rubio shut down a State Department office that had sought to counter foreign disinformation, accusing it of censorship and wasting U.S. taxpayer money.
In a social media post on Wednesday, Rubio added, 'Whether in Latin America, Europe, or elsewhere, the days of passive treatment for those who work to undermine the rights of Americans are over.'
Rubio did not name specific countries or individuals that would be targeted.
US social media companies like Facebook and Instagram parent Meta have said an EU content moderation law, the Digital Services Act, amounts to censorship of their platforms.
Vice President JD Vance denounced content moderation while in Paris in February, calling it 'authoritarian censorship.'
Earlier this week the White House said it was 'monitoring' the case of Lucy Connolly after her bid to be freed from prison over a Tweet which 'stirred up racial hatred' was refused.
Connolly was jailed for 31 months after she posted an online rant about migrants hours after killer Axel Rudakubana murdered three young girls in Southport on July 29 last year.
The former childminder, who is the wife of Conservative councillor Ray Connolly, deleted the post after four hours but was arrested last August and admitted a charge of inciting racial hatred in October.
Last week her appeal against her sentence was refused by three Court of Appeal judges meaning she faces serving another eight months behind bars.
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