Trump administration orders enhanced vetting for applicants of H-1B visa
Under a new State Department memo, people who keep online spaces safe are now ineligible for H-1B visas.
The US has taken the extraordinary move of blocking H-1B visa recipients who work to keep online spaces safe from abuse:
“The cable, sent to all U.S. missions on December 2, orders U.S. consular officers to review resumes or LinkedIn profiles of H-1B applicants - and family members who would be traveling with them - 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.
If you uncover evidence an applicant was responsible for, or complicit in, censorship or attempted censorship of protected expression in the United States, you should pursue a finding that the applicant is ineligible," under a specific article of the Immigration and Nationality Act, the cable said.”
The message here is very clear: the people who make online communities safe are not welcome in the United States. Trust and safety is a very wide field, which encompasses the policies, processes, and technologies online platforms use to protect users from harm, ensure a secure environment, and maintain user trust. Compliance ensures that safety rules are adhered to. None of these activities constitute censorship.
These capabilities are required to make online communities livable. Without them, online spaces become toxic very quickly. The ultimate effect of this policy — if spread beyond H-1B visa holders — would be to make US-run online spaces unusable, and drive users elsewhere. If you want the future of social to be defined in other countries, it’s a great path to take. Otherwise, it’s stunningly short-sighted.
Via Kate Klonick, who highlighted it over on Bluesky.
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