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Lawsuit challenges US policy barring visas for social media researchers

The Coalition for Independent Technology Research argues the policy chills protected speech and research, targeting noncitizen social media experts with visa bans and deportation threats.

  • On Monday, Columbia University's Knight First Amendment Institute and Protect Democracy sued in Washington, D.C., to block a visa policy targeting social media researchers, citing Rubio, Noem, and Bondi as defendants.
  • The State Department in early December instructed staff to deny visas for fact-checking and trust-and-safety work, following July revocations and Dec. 23 bans on five Europeans tied to foreign-policy concerns.
  • Noncitizen academics and independent researchers say they live in 'pervasive fear,' losing funding and jobs while U.S. colleagues face disrupted work, with Naomi Gilens calling the policy a 'shadow over a vast range of protected activity' and Carrie DeCell warning it suppresses disfavored speech.
  • A federal judge temporarily blocked the lawsuit's plaintiff from arrest or detention, and a State Department spokesperson said 'a visa is a privilege, not a right.
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Lawsuit challenges US policy barring visas for social media researchers

A group of technology researchers filed a lawsuit on Monday alleging that ​U.S. President Donald Trump's administration has adopted an unconstitutional policy that targets foreign nationals who study ‌disinformation and hate speech on social media for visa denials and deportation.

·United Kingdom
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knightcolumbia.org broke the news in on Monday, March 9, 2026.
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