Overview
- An internal memo sent to U.S. missions this week instructs consular officers to find applicants ineligible if they are responsible for, or complicit in, censorship or attempted censorship of protected expression in the United States.
- The guidance directs enhanced scrutiny of work histories in misinformation research, fact-checking, content moderation, compliance, and trust-and-safety roles, with initial attention on H‑1B tech workers.
- A State Department spokesperson defended the policy, saying the administration aims to protect Americans’ free expression and does not support foreigners coming to work as censors, citing President Trump’s past platform bans.
- Separately, the department announced that H‑1B applicants and their dependents must set their social‑media profiles to public so U.S. officials can review them.
- Legal and free‑speech experts criticized the directive as incoherent and potentially unconstitutional, while trust‑and‑safety leaders said it miscasts work that targets abuse and disinformation as censorship.