Judge Halts US Visa Restrictions on Disinformation Gurus Accused of Censorship

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said, ‘Americans have been fined, harassed, and even charged by foreign authorities for exercising their free speech rights.’

An illustration shows a smart phone screen displaying the phrase "Fake News" in front of a desktop screen showing several news and research reports about fake news and disinformation related to the upcoming Brazilian presidential election, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Aug. 29, 2022. Mauro Pimentel/AFP via Getty Images

A federal judge on Tuesday blocked the Trump administration from enforcing a policy that denied visas and ordered deportations of “disinformation” expert foreign nationals whom it accused of being leading figures in the global “censorship-industrial complex.”

Last year, the United States issued a visa policy targeting foreign nationals whom it claimed censor Americans’ free speech abroad.

“For too long, Americans have been fined, harassed, and even charged by foreign authorities for exercising their free speech rights,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on X at the time.

In Washington on July 14, Chief U.S. District ‌Judge James Boasberg sided with the Coalition for ⁠Independent Technology Research (CITR) in finding that the administration’s policy likely “burdens” the speech of noncitizen researchers in the United States in violation of the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment.

The group’s lawsuit alleged that ​the U.S. State Department had been engaged in a campaign of censorship against anti-disinformation advocates.

“What began as a visa-restriction policy later expanded, according to plaintiff Coalition for Independent Technology Research, into a broader campaign against noncitizens who work on misinformation, disinformation, fact checking, content moderation, compliance and trust and safety,” the judge wrote.

“The Department has since invoked that policy to bar individuals from the country or seek their removal, including leaders of CITR member organizations.”

In December 2025, ​the State Department imposed visa bans on five Europeans, including a former European Union commissioner, and ​anti-disinformation activists whom ⁠Rubio called “leading figures of the global censorship-industrial complex.”

“But when you turn disinformation into a weapon, a political weapon, a label that you can use to go after people you don’t like, and say, oh, anything that person’s saying is disinformation—well, listen, I read mainstream newspapers every day, or I watch mainstream broadcasts—mainstream broadcasts every day that I know are disinformation, okay?” Rubio said in a May 2025 conversation with free speech activist Mike Bentz.

Among those hit by the visa ban were Imran Ahmed, the British CEO of U.S.-based Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), and Clare Melford, co-founder of Global Disinformation Index.

Their groups are members of the Coalition for Independent Technology Research, according to the lawsuit.

Rubio accused them of having “led organized efforts to coerce American platforms to censor, demonetize, and suppress American viewpoints they oppose.”

CCDH, a British nonprofit, researches what it calls “online hate and disinformation,” which it defines as online lies “weaponized by movements and individuals for their own political, social and economic ends.”

For example, in one report, it partnered with a major abortion provider, MSI Reproductive Choices, and highlighted what it described as “false claims” online that abortion drugs pose high risks to women.

CCDH also produced its 2021 “Disinformation Dozen” report targeting 12 individuals, including Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Joseph Mercola, and Sherri Tenpenny, as “top spreaders“ of COVID vaccine ”misinformation.”

It urged social media platforms and governments to ban private groups that traffic primarily in “vaccine disinformation” and to prevent groups requiring a Facebook disclaimer from existing as private or secret groups.

A 2023 Republican-led congressional investigation by the House Judiciary Committee and the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government into the Election Integrity Partnership detailed how “disinformation” efforts disproportionately flagged conservative content.

This included posts from President Donald Trump, Speaker Newt Gingrich, and other Republicans, often to justify censorship.

Carrie DeCell, a lawyer for the coalition at the Knight ​First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, welcomed the judge’s ruling, which she said “recognized the serious constitutional harms this policy ‌is already ⁠causing.”

“This policy punishes researchers for work the public needs, and the First Amendment protects,” DeCell said.

In a May 26 statement, CITR said that the policy “has created a chilling effect” across disinformation researchers.

“Researchers have dropped out of conferences and opted out of travel to meet with colleagues, shifted research topics entirely to avoid negative attention, and in some cases, even stepped back from affiliating with the coalition out of fear for their safety,” it said.

“The policy is affecting researchers in how they live and labor, with the fear of being detained or deported from the United States because of their work helping people navigate social media and AI safely.”

A State Department spokesperson told The Epoch Times by email: “The Trump administration believes that aliens who are or were involved or complicit in censoring American citizens must face appropriate consequences.

“An American visa is a privilege, not a right. Specific questions about this lawsuit should be referred to the Department of Justice.”

Reuters and Ryan Morgan contributed to this report.