The First Amendment and U.S. law offer relatively wide protections for social media platforms, being wary of governmental attempts at censorship, and perhaps solicitous of media profits.
This has not stopped the Trump Administration from attempting to detain and expel Imran Ahmed, a legal permanent resident, with an American wife and child, who is the founder and CEO of the British-based Center for Countering Digital Hate.
Trump moved to expel Imran Ahmed after criticisms of social media companies
The government took its actions against Ahmed and his colleagues after the Center called out some prominent social media companies for serving as a platform for what they consider to be hate speech and racism.
After Secretary of State Marco Rubio attempted to bar Ahmed and his colleagues from the country on the basis that that “have led organized efforts to coerce American platforms to censor, demonetize and suppress American viewpoints they oppose,” Judge Vernon S. Broderick of the Federal District Court in the Southern District of New York, issued a temporary restraining order blocking the government from doing so (Kavi 2025). This action is similar to positions that courts have taken on behalf of other legal permanent residents such as Mahmoud Khalil and other students who have voiced their support for Palestinians or expressed other positions critical of the Trump Administration.
In a case still being appealed, Elon Musk, who has had close ties to he Trump Administration and initially headed its Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), had previously unsuccessfully sued the Center for Countering Digital Hate for charges that hate speech had increased after Musk bought the social media company now called X.
Ahmed: Retaliation for exercising basic First Amendment rights
In presenting his case to the court, Ahmed, argued that “Rather than disguise its retaliatory motive, the federal government was clear that Mr. Ahmed is being ‘SANCTIONED’ as punishment for the research and public reporting carried out by the nonprofit organization that Mr. Ahmed founded and runs” (Corbett 2025). He further observed that this punishment was in retaliations “for exercising his basic First Amendment rights.” (Corbett 2025).
Ahmed, who wrote his dissertation on American politics, noted that he loved America and that he thought the district court decision was a vindication of the First Amendment and of the U.S. system of checks and balances (Grylis 2025).
First Amendment rights for legal permanent residents
Judge Broderick, whose Christmas Day order (25-CV-10705) did not include commentary on the First Amendment, but his preliminary injunction is in line with other judicial decisions that have extended First Amendment rights to legal permanent residents.
John R. Vile is a political science professor and dean of the Honors College at Middle Tennessee State University.