A British anti-disinformation campaigner has won a temporary legal victory against the Trump administration after being targeted for his organisation's work monitoring online hate speech. Imran Ahmed, chief executive of the Centre for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), was among five European nationals facing potential removal from the United States.

According to court documents, a judge in the southern district of New York, Vernon S Broderick, granted Ahmed’s request for a temporary restraining order. The order blocks US officials from detaining or removing him from the country before his case can be fully heard. The CCDH is a small campaign group that has previously challenged right-wing manipulation of news and the spread of racism and homophobia online.

The group has also drawn significant ire from Elon Musk, the owner of the platform X, formerly known as Twitter. The CCDH has published reports detailing a rise in racist, antisemitic, homophobic and extremist content on the platform since Musk's acquisition. Musk attempted to sue the CCDH last year, a case which was unsuccessful, and later labelled the group a "criminal organisation".

Ahmed was targeted alongside Clare Melford, the UK-based head of the Global Disinformation Index (GDI). Musk has similarly called for the GDI to be shut down due to its criticism of right-wing websites for spreading disinformation.

The legal action against the campaigners comes amid broader transatlantic tensions over content regulation. The Guardian reported that right-wing bodies in the US might attempt to sue the European Union and the United Kingdom over their more robust measures against hate speech and intimidation online.

In response to these tensions, a spokesperson for the British government stated that while the US could have its own definition of "free speech", the UK remained committed to international efforts to regulate harmful content and protect young people from extremism.