US builds online 'free speech portal' so Britons can bypass Labour's internet restrictions

Officials had discussed including a virtual private network function to make a user appear to be in the US.

People's activity on the site will not be tracked, according to Reuters.

The project was expected to be unveiled at last week's Munich Security Conference by Undersecretary for Public Diplomacy Sarah B Rogers, who has long raised concerns over free speech in Britain, but was delayed.

Ms Rogers had told GB News just weeks ago that "nothing is off the table" to open up "authoritarian, closed societies" which censor the internet.

Amid a row between Labour and Elon Musk's X platform, she said that "given the pro-censorship inclinations of the British state in recent memory, I can't say that we'll be shocked" if the Government banned it.

News of the freedom portal emerged practically minutes before Sir Keir Starmer threatened social media firms with fines and bans.

The PM said the threats were a way to force them to remove non-consensual intimate images and protect women and girls.

"We are going further, putting companies on notice so that any non-consensual image is taken down in under 48 hours," Sir Keir said in a statement.

Earlier this year, Ms Rogers mocked Labour's promise to "ensure women and girls are safe online" by pointing out how "in the real world" one of the party's council leaders called grooming gang victims "white trash".

The website could spark a row between Washington and Europe over the US appearing to encourage citizens to break their local laws.

US lawmaker Anna Paulina Luna has in the past threatened to sanction both the Prime Minister and the UK itself if Labour banned X.

It would also place Britain in the same tier as countries like China, Iran and Russia.

Before Donald Trump's second term, the US helped fund commercial VPNs to promote democracy globally and help users access free information.

The State Department has remained coy on the plans.

It does not have a censorship-circumvention programme specific to Europe, it said.

It added: “Digital freedom is a priority for the State Department, however, and that includes the proliferation of privacy and censorship-circumvention technologies like VPNs."

Washington views the move as a way to smash censorship - while officials have long warned that rules like Britain's Online Safety Act limit free speech.

And announcing the tech firms crackdown on Wednesday night, Technology Secretary Liz Kendall said the days of companies "having a free pass are over".

She said: "No woman should have to chase platform after platform, waiting days for an image to come down. Under this government, you report once and you’re protected everywhere.

"The internet must be a space where women and girls feel safe, respected, and able to thrive."