Trump admin may deny H1-B visas to people who worked in content moderation, report says

The Trump medication has ordered US consulates to see rejecting H1-B visa applicants progressive successful contented moderation oregon “censorship,” according to a study from Reuters. A State Department cablegram viewed by the outlet says officials should cheque an applicant’s resume oregon LinkedIn illustration for a occupation past 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 radical applying for an H1-B visa who whitethorn person had a past of moving successful “social media oregon fiscal services companies progressive successful the suppression of protected expression.” Many tech companies, specified arsenic Amazon, Google, and Microsoft, hire highly skilled workers connected H1-B visas.

“If you uncover grounds an applicant was liable for, oregon complicit in, censorship oregon 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 indispensable 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 pupil visa applicants and aboriginal requiring a $100,000 fee alongside H1-B visa applications. Trump has since paused migration applications from 19 “countries of concern” following the National Guard shooting successful Washington, DC.

“People who survey misinformation and enactment 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 bureau doesn’t remark connected “allegedly leaked documents” but added that “we bash not enactment aliens coming to the United States to enactment arsenic censors muzzling Americans.” The State Department didn’t instantly respond to The Verge’s petition for comment.