Two British social media campaigners are among five people denied US visas after the State Department accused them of seeking to "coerce" American tech platforms into suppressing free speech.
Imran Ahmed, an ex-Labour adviser who now heads the Centre for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), and Clare Melford, CEO of the Global Disinformation Index (GDI), were labelled "radical activists" by the Trump administration and banned from entering the US.
A French ex-EU commissioner and two senior figures at a Germany-based anti-online hate group were also denied visas.
French President Emmanuel Macron led European condemnation of the move, describing it as "intimidation".
