Trump is using immigration policy to suppress speech, lawsuit claims
Researchers who study online safety are being censored and denied entry to the United States. It's having an unconstitutional chilling effect on independent research and advocacy that a lawsuit aims to correct.
This lawsuit, filed by The Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University and Protect Democracy on behalf of the Coalition for Independent Technology Research (CITR), is important:
“The suit accuses the administration of violating the First Amendment with an official policy to deny visas to or deport noncitizens who work on or study social media platforms, fact-checking or other activities the government deems "censorship" of Americans' speech. It argues that amounts to unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination.”
The work conducted by researchers into social media is vital: it helps us build safer communities that allow democratic discourse to take place. Unfortunately, the Trump administration has decided that this safety work is a radical act — and in particular that research into Trump ally Elon Musk’s X is verboten. I would assume that Ellison’s American TikTok will receive the same preferential treatment.
My friend Dr J. Nathan Matias, who runs the amazing Citizens and Technology Lab, is a named declarant. His experiences are laid out in the suit:
“[…] the Censorship Policy has deprived Dr. Matias of significant contributions from his noncitizen collaborators in the United States. Because of the fear that they will be denied reentry to the United States under the Policy, some of Dr. Matias’s U.S.-based noncitizen collaborators have decided not to travel abroad, including to attend meetings with new community partners who have important experiences related to online safety and freedom of expression. As a result, Dr. Matias has been unable to pursue collaborations with those partners, who would have added significant value to his research. Because of the same fear, one of Dr. Matias’s noncitizen collaborators felt compelled to make extensive contingency plans in connection with international travel, requiring more flexibility in their work and less visibility on their projects, which has significantly delayed progress on those projects. Additionally, because of the fear that they will be targeted for detention or deportation under the Policy based on their work, at least one of Dr. Matias’s noncitizen collaborators has decided not to speak to journalists or answer questions from policymakers on topics related to their work. As a result of these chilling effects, Dr. Matias has lost important opportunities to develop new research, obtain expert feedback on research, and bring visibility to his work and the work of his lab.”
This is unacceptable. We should all hope that the lawsuit is successful.
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