The Donald Trump administration has moved to deny visas to fact-checkers, content moderators who have engaged in “censoring the free speech of US citizens”. The State Department has sent a memo to overseas missions this week directing consular officials to deny visas to any applicant “responsible for, or complicit in, censorship or attempted censorship of protected expression in the US”, NPR and Reuters reported. A State Department spokesperson told NPR that it was a leaked document but did not deny its authenticity. “The Administration has made clear that it defends Americans’ freedom of expression against foreigners who wish to censor them. We do not support aliens coming to the United States to work as censors muzzling Americans,” the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson emphasized how President Trump’s social media accounts were locked and this should not happen to any Americans. “In the past, the President himself was the victim of this kind of abuse when social media companies locked his accounts. He does not want other Americans to suffer this way. Allowing foreigners to lead this type of censorship would both insult and injure the American people,” the spokesperson added. Trump’s Twitter and Facebook accounts were banned following the January 6 2021, Capitol riot in Washington DC.

Which type of fact-checkers, content moderators to be affected

The memo said there should be enhanced vetting of applicants to see if they have worked in areas that include activities such as “misinformation, disinformation, content moderation, fact-checking, compliance and online safety, among others”. The diplomatic officials have been instructed to turn down visa applications from anybody who worked on fact-checking, content moderation of other activities that the Trump administration cnsiders “censorship of Americans’ speech”.Officials have been asked to scrutinize applicants’ work history, LinkedIn profiles, apart from all other social media accounts, looking for mentions in media articles of “activities including combatting misinformation, disinformation or false narratives, content moderation, compliance, and trust and safety”. If evidence emerges to indicate to a vetting officer that an individual was engaged in censorship activities, “you should pursue a finding that the applicant is ineligible (for a visa)”, the memo said.