Trump Admin May Deny H1-b Visas To People Who Worked In Content Moderation, Report Says

The Trump management has ordered US consulates to see rejecting H1-B visa applicants progressive successful contented moderation aliases “censorship,” according to a study from Reuters. A State Department cablegram viewed by nan 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, nan cablegram says nan argumentation applies to each visa applicants, but it’s directed astatine group applying for an H1-B visa who whitethorn person had a history of moving successful “social media aliases financial services companies progressive successful nan 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 responsible for, aliases complicit in, censorship aliases attempted censorship of protected look successful nan United States, you should prosecute a uncovering that nan applicant is ineligible,” nan 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 nan State Department to screen nan societal media accounts of student visa applicants and later requiring a $100,000 fee alongside H1-B visa applications. Trump has since paused migration applications from 19 “countries of concern” following nan 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 nan First Amendment was designed to protect,”  Carrie DeCell, nan elder unit lawyer and legislative advisor astatine nan 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 nan agency doesn’t remark connected “allegedly leaked documents” but added that “we do not support aliens coming to nan United States to activity arsenic censors muzzling Americans.” The State Department didn’t instantly respond to The Verge’s petition for comment.