CCDH Founder Says He Won’t Be Silenced as He Appeals Immigration Detention Threat

Ahmed asks appeals court to preserve restraining order

Ahmed hopes the appeals court will approve his request to maintain the restraining order while it considers issues that could affect technology research and free speech across the United States.

In his appeal, Ahmed acknowledged that he “does not intend to leave the United States or voluntarily submit to immigration detention while seeking appeal review.” He said he intends to remain with his American wife and children while continuing to advocate for transparency and accountability from social media companies.

“I will do so under imminent threat that the government may arrest and detain me at any time if I do not stay,” Ahmed wrote.

Ahmed says he is willing to risk detention over researchers’ speech rights

Ahmed told Ars that he is willing to risk temporary detention to protect the speech rights of technical researchers. He believes the case represents an effort to suppress criticism of powerful figures.

“Anyone who knows anything about the U.S. Constitution understands this for what it is: the use of the awesome power of the U.S. government to silence someone who has embarrassed his friend in the administration, Mr. Musk,” Ahmed said.

Ahmed founded the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) after losing a colleague to an online radicalized shooter. He told Ars that roughly 90 percent of the organization’s work involves testing whether social media companies’ promised safety measures actually work.

CCDH continues to challenge social media and AI safety claims

Despite pressure from Trump officials, CCDH continues to issue warnings about flawed safety measures. Ahmed said he is preparing a report on AI platform safety for release this fall. The report will argue that safety measures used by companies, including OpenAI, are not working properly.

“If the goal of the State Department and the tech establishment that admired it and undoubtedly pressured them from the beginning was to silence us, then they have failed,” Ahmed told Ars.

“We will not back down,” he continued. “We will not be silent.”

Ahmed says his family remains at the center of the fight

At home, Ahmed’s daughters are still too young to understand that his work could threaten the family. Seven years after CCDH began monitoring social media for harmful content, he told Ars that he remains committed to protecting Americans online.

Ahmed also continues to hope that he will one day become a U.S. citizen. If necessary, he intends to take the case all the way to the Supreme Court.

“We have to show that we are not intimidated by this important work, and that is very important,” he said.

Ahmed questions DOJ response to Grok and CSAM concerns

Although the dispute is not entirely focused on Musk, Ahmed also questioned why the Justice Department has not launched its own investigation into X and other platforms. The chatbot Grok has faced global criticism for generating child sexual abuse material, or CSAM.

“I think the Department of Justice should focus on the platforms that are currently proliferating and producing child sex abuse material, rather than punishing those who identified the problem,” Ahmed told Ars.