{"id":90964,"date":"2025-12-25T23:47:46","date_gmt":"2025-12-26T04:47:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/?p=90964"},"modified":"2025-12-25T23:47:46","modified_gmt":"2025-12-26T04:47:46","slug":"jewish-groups-defend-european-media-monitors-banned-for-what-state-dept-calls-censorship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/jewish-groups-defend-european-media-monitors-banned-for-what-state-dept-calls-censorship\/","title":{"rendered":"Jewish groups defend European media monitors banned for what State Dept. calls \u2018censorship\u2019\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

By ANDREW LAPIN<\/p>\n

(JTA) \u2014 Two major Jewish groups defended a digital hate-speech researcher who has been barred by the Trump administration from entering the country.<\/p>\n

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US Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks to journalists at the airport in Hamilton, Ontario, on Nov. 12, 2025. (Mandel Ngan\/POOL\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Representatives for Jewish Federations of North America and the Jewish Council for Public Affairs responded after the U.S. State Department restricted the visas of five European digital speech activists. The banned activists include two who helped Jewish college students sue the social network X over the proliferation of antisemitic content on the platform, and another who has advised Jewish federations on social media hygiene. The government made the announcement late Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he was taking these steps in order to combat \u201ccensorship.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFor far too long, ideologues in Europe have led organized efforts to coerce American platforms to punish American viewpoints they oppose,\u201d Rubio wrote on X. \u201cThe Trump Administration will no longer tolerate these egregious acts of extraterritorial censorship.\u201d<\/p>\n

But representatives for JFNA and the JCPA, two groups that have worked extensively with the British digital researcher Imran Ahmed, stood up for him in interviews with the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Ahmed, the group leaders said, is an important ally in the fight against antisemitism.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is a valuable partner in providing accurate and detailed information on how the social media algorithms have created a bent toward antisemitism and anti-Zionism, and he will remain a valuable partner,\u201d Dennis Bernard, head of government relations for JFNA, told JTA about Ahmed.<\/p>\n

Ahmed\u2019s research has helped inform the federation movement\u2019s larger strategy to counter antisemitism on social media. Last month JFNA and Ahmed\u2019s group, the Centre for Countering Digital Hate, jointly released a report detailing how Instagram\u2019s algorithm promotes antisemitism. <\/p>\n

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Imran Ahmed, CEO of the Centre for Countering Digital Hate, speaks at the Eradicate Hate summit in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Oct. 5, 2023. On Dec. 23, 2025, the US State Department barred Ahmed and four other European digital anti-hate advocates from entering the country. (Screenshot via YouTube)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Ahmed also presented his findings at JFNA\u2019s recent General Assembly in Washington, as well as at a Jewish Funders Network convening, and has spoken at the Eradicate Hate Global Summit in Pittsburgh \u2014 which was founded in the aftermath of the 2018 Tree of Life shootings. Separately, he has researched the proliferation of antisemitic content across various social networks following the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks.<\/p>\n

Bernard declined to comment on Rubio\u2019s move to restrict Ahmed\u2019s visa, but noted, \u201cWe will look into this.\u201d Regarding Ahmed, Bernard said, \u201cIf there\u2019s something there we don\u2019t know about, of course we will terminate our relationship with him.\u201d<\/p>\n

JCPA CEO Amy Spitalnick also praised Ahmed\u2019s work fighting antisemitism. She harshly criticized the State Department\u2019s targeting of him.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s dedicated his career to fighting online hate and extremism,\u201d Spitalnick told JTA about Ahmed. She denounced his targeting as \u201call part of the broader weaponization of the federal government to go after perceived political enemies and advance an extremist agenda, which in this case is to push back against any regulation of tech.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ahmed and Spitalnick began working together in the aftermath of Spitalnick\u2019s successful effort to prosecute the organizers of the \u201cUnite the Right\u201d march in Charlottesville, Virginia. They bonded over a shared interest in how online spaces were giving rise to hate activities like the rally. They have since partnered on a report about antisemitism on X. Shortly after Oct. 7, Ahmed appeared in a webinar with Spitalnick discussing how extremist groups were seizing on the attacks to spread antisemitism and anti-Muslim sentiments.<\/p>\n

Ahmed wasn\u2019t the only target on the State Department\u2019s list with connections to Jewish groups.<\/p>\n

In 2023 the European Union of Jewish Students, a group representing pro-Israel Jewish university students throughout Europe, sued X, then called Twitter, in German court over the proliferation of antisemitic content, including Holocaust denial, on the social network. Filing alongside them was HateAid, a German legal group that says it \u201cadvocates for human rights in the digital space.\u201d <\/p>\n

HateAid\u2019s leaders, Josephine Ballon and Anna-Lena von Hodenberg, were also named on the State Department\u2019s list of visa restrictions this week.<\/p>\n

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Anna-Lena von Hodenberg, founder of HateAid, attends the ceremony for the presentation of the 2021 ifa Award for the Dialogue of Cultures, at Allianz Forum in Berlin, Sept, 14, 2021. (Adam Berry\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cTwitter has betrayed our trust. By allowing hateful content to spread, the company fails to protect users, and Jews in particular,\u201d Avital Grinberg, then the head of the European Union of Jewish Students, said about her lawsuit at the time. \u201cIf Jews are forced out of the virtual space due to antisemitism and digital violence, Jewish life will become invisible in a place that is relevant to society.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cTwitter owes us a communication platform where we can move freely and without fear of hatred and agitation,\u201d Ballon, the head of HateAid\u2019s legal team, said then. <\/p>\n

Reached for comment Wednesday, Grinberg said the Trump administration\u2019s move against HateAid\u2019s leaders was \u201cdangerous for people like us.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cFor me personally, and I think for many young Jews who are exposed to antisemitism online, these organizations are crucial,\u201d she said. \u201cThese are people who give us tools to respond to the hatred we experience online every day, across all the platforms.\u201d<\/p>\n

Today Grinberg is general manager of EU Watch, a watchdog group that critiques the European Union from a pro-Israel perspective.<\/p>\n

The individuals were targeted as part of a larger battle on the right to fight what conservatives see as an effort by tech activists to silence conservative voices \u2014 an effort that is clashing with institutional Jewish groups\u2019 longstanding push for tougher restrictions on tech platforms to limit the spread of antisemitism and Holocaust denial.<\/p>\n

In a statement explaining the restrictions, the State Department said the five activists had run afoul of a visa law passed earlier this year aimed at \u201cforeign nationals who censor Americans.\u201d <\/p>\n

On X, Rubio said the administration \u201cwill take steps to bar leading figures of the global censorship-industrial complex from entering the United States. We stand ready and willing to expand this list if others do not reverse course.\u201d<\/p>\n

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