Trump Administration's New Visa Ban Targets Content Moderators and Tech Workers: Impact on Indian H-1B Applicants

According to a State Department memo obtained by Reuters, the Trump administration has instructed US embassy officials to deny visa applications from individuals who have worked in fact-checking, content moderation, compliance, or online safety roles. These new visa restrictions are expected to significantly impact technology workers, especially applicants from India.

The memo directs consular officials to refuse visas to anyone deemed "responsible for, or complicit in, censorship or attempted censorship of protected expression in the United States." While this directive covers all visa categories, including those for journalists and tourists, it primarily targets H-1B visas—typically issued to highly skilled foreign professionals in the technology sector.

Officials will examine applicants' professional backgrounds, LinkedIn profiles, and social media accounts to identify involvement in misinformation prevention, content moderation, trust and safety, and compliance activities. Evidence of such work could make applicants ineligible to enter the United States.

The policy appears to target professionals in online safety, including those working to address child sexual abuse material, antisemitism, and harmful online content. Even UK officials implementing the Online Safety Act 2023, which authorizes Ofcom to penalize social media companies for violations like cyberflashing or promoting self-harm, could face visa restrictions under these new regulations.

The Trump administration has positioned this directive as protecting free speech, referencing the US president's experience with social media bans following the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot.

A State Department spokesperson stated, "While we do not comment on allegedly leaked documents, make no mistake, the Administration has made clear that it defends Americans' freedom of expression against foreigners who wish to censor them. We do not support aliens coming to the US to work as censors muzzling Americans. Allowing foreigners to lead this type of censorship would both insult and injure the American people," according to The Guardian.

Alice Goguen Hunsberger, vice president of trust and safety at PartnerHero, told NPR, "I'm alarmed that trust and safety work is being conflated with 'censorship'. Trust and safety is a broad practice which includes critical and life-saving work to protect children and stop child sexual abuse material, as well as preventing fraud, scams, and sextortion. Having global workers at tech companies in trust and safety absolutely keeps Americans safer."

This year, the administration has also restricted visas for foreign journalists, removed climate change references from government websites, banned journalists from White House briefings, and sued media organizations.

In May, Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote on X, "Foreigners who work to undermine the rights of Americans should not enjoy the privilege of travelling to our country. Whether in Latin America, Europe, or elsewhere, the days of passive treatment for those who work to undermine the rights of Americans are over."