San Francisco Frontiers - Tech researchers sue US Trump administration over visa bans

The nonpartisan Coalition for Independent Technology Research (CITR) filed the lawsuit in a federal court in the US capital, naming Secretary of State Marco Rubio, outgoing Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Attorney General Pam Bondi as defendants.

The suit follows the administration's decision in December to impose visa sanctions on five European figures involved in regulating tech platforms, reiterating its longstanding assertion that such work amounted to a form of online censorship.

"The Trump administration is engaged in a brazen and far-reaching campaign of censorship while cynically and falsely claiming that censorship is what it is fighting," the suit said.

"Defendants have adopted a new policy of excluding and deporting noncitizens whose work involves combatting misinformation and disinformation, fact-checking, content moderation, trust and safety, or compliance."

In May last year, Rubio announced a "visa restriction policy" aimed at foreign officials and other individuals who are allegedly "complicit in censoring Americans."

In December, the International Fact-Checking Network said it was "deeply concerned" by reports that the State Department instructed staff to deny visas to people who have worked in fact-checking and content moderation.

"The Trump administration is using the threat of detention and deportation to suppress speech it disfavors," said Carrie DeCell, from the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, which filed the lawsuit on behalf of CITR.

"By targeting researchers and advocates for their work studying and reporting on social media platforms and online harms, the policy chills protected speech and distorts public debate about issues of profound public importance."

A Justice Department spokesperson expressed defiance, saying the administration planned to "defend against baseless lawsuits like this."

Separately, the State Department said "a visa is a privilege, not a right."

"The United States is under no obligation to admit or suffer the presence of individuals who subvert our laws and deny our citizens their constitutional rights," it added in a statement.

The study of disinformation is more critical than ever in the age of AI and online deception, researchers say.

But researchers in the United States say they are battling federal funding cuts, a surge of abuse, and even death threats -- fueled in part by accusations from conservative advocates of a liberal bias.

This comes as major tech platforms pull back anti-disinformation guardrails, including scaling down content moderation and reducing their reliance on human fact-checkers.

"Researchers who help everyday people understand the impacts of Big Tech are scared that they and their families will be targeted for detention and deportation under this policy," said Brandi Geurkink, CITR's executive director.

"At a time when AI is rapidly changing our lives and economy and people are already worried about their freedom and safety online, we need independent researchers more than ever."

V.Mitchell--SFF