British officials warned they will be denied U.S. visas if they breach free speech rights of U.S. citizens.

 

Britain's 'The Online Safety Act', requires social media organisations like X, (formerly Twitter), to remove harmful content from their platforms. If they fail to do so, they will face fines of £18 million pounds or 10 percent of their annual revenue.

Free speech advocates say that the Act could lead to excessive censorship and deter investment from American tech giants. The U.S. State Department has raised concerns regarding the laws capacity to restrict freedom of expression and the massive fines it could impose on U.S. tech companies. British officials now face being banned from the U.S. if they are found to have breached free speech rights of American citizens. The visa ban could apply to individuals working for Ofcom who are responsible for policing Britain's online safety laws. Marco Rubio, the U.S. Secretary of State, said foreign officials "complicit in censoring" American citizens and media companies will be denied entry to the U.S.

The announcement is understood to have taken British officials by surprise. The Trump administration considers it 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 U.S. In an ominous warning, Sir Mark Rowley, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, has said:

“We will throw the full force of the law at people: And whether you're in this country committing crimes or from further afield online, we will come after you."

It is known that U S. state officials have met with Foreign Office officials to convey their concerns about the Online Safety Act. They have also met with pro-life British activists over censorship concerns. The White House is also said to be 'monitoring' the case of Lucy Connolly, a British woman who was jailed for 31 months for comments that she made on social media.

Despite the apparent rift between the U.K. and U.S. governments over this issue, sources within the Foreign Office, said both countries would work together to protect freedom of speech across the world. The Foreign Office referred to comments made by Sir Keir Starmer when he visited the U.S. in February. Starmer said:

"We've had free speech for a very, very long time in the U.K. Certainly, we wouldn't want to reach across U.S. citizens and we don't, and that's absolutely right. But in relation to free speech in the U.K., I'm very proud of our history there."

Boris Johnson, the former Conservative Prime Minister, has warned that Britain has become a 'police state' under Sir Keir Starmer's Labour government. He recently said: "The UK police are now making over 10,000 arrests every year for online comments, more than the police in Russia itself, and this judgement is yet another gift for Vladimir Putin."