Trump admin may deny H-1B visas to people who worked in content moderation, report says

The Trump management has ordered US consulates to see rejecting H-1B visa applicants progressive successful contented moderation aliases “censorship,” according to a study from Reuters. A State Department cablegram viewed by the outlet says officials should cheque an applicant’s resume aliases LinkedIn floor plan for a occupation history involving moderation, fact-checking, online safety, compliance, and misinformation.

As reported by Reuters, the cablegram says the argumentation applies to each visa applicants, but it’s directed astatine group applying for an H-1B visa who whitethorn person had a history of moving successful “social media aliases financial services companies progressive successful the suppression of protected expression.” Many tech companies, specified arsenic Amazon, Google, and Microsoft, hire highly skilled workers connected H-1B visas.

“If you uncover grounds an applicant was responsible for, aliases complicit in, censorship aliases attempted censorship of protected look successful the United States, you should prosecute a uncovering that the applicant is ineligible,” the cablegram says, according to Reuters. “You must thoroughly research their employment histories to guarantee nary information successful specified activities.”

President Donald Trump began tightening migration policies earlier this year, instructing the State Department to screen the societal media accounts of student visa applicants and later requiring a $100,000 fee alongside H-1B visa applications. Trump has since paused migration applications from 19 “countries of concern” following the National Guard shooting successful Washington, DC.

“People who study misinformation and activity connected content-moderation teams aren’t engaged successful ‘censorship’ — they’re engaged successful activities that the First Amendment was designed to protect,” Carrie DeCell, the elder unit lawyer and legislative advisor astatine the Knight First Amendment Institute astatine Columbia University, says successful a statement. “This argumentation is incoherent and unconstitutional.”

When asked astir its caller migration vetting process, a State Department spokesperson told Reuters that the agency doesn’t remark connected “allegedly leaked documents” but added that “we do not support aliens coming to the United States to activity arsenic censors muzzling Americans.” The State Department didn’t instantly respond to The Verge’s petition for comment.

Correction, December 4th: Corrected mention of “H1-B” visa to “H-1B.”