Donald Trump’s administration has directed embassy officials to reject visa applicants if they have worked as factcheckers or in roles challenging disinformation.
Other banned fields include content moderation, compliance and online safety – jobs that may include those tackling online child sexual abuse or antisemitism – in an apparent attempt to enforce censorship of people outside the US.
UK officials and workers enforcing the Online Safety Act 2023, which allows Ofcom to fine social media companies for breaches such as cyberflashing, promoting self-harm, or racial abuse, face being barred from the US under the policy.
The US state department claimed it wanted to stop “aliens coming to the United States to work as censors muzzling Americans”, after Reuters reported the existence of the cable sent to US embassies and consulates on 2 December.
The cable told officials they should reject visa applicants if they found evidence they were “responsible for, or complicit in, censorship or attempted censorship of protected expression in the United States?”, the news agency reported.
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The policy applies to all visa applicants, including journalists and tourists, but officials were directed in the cable to focus on those applying for H-1B visas, usually used by high-skilled tech workers. Social media accounts will also be vetted.
In July, Jim Jordan, a US congressman and Trump ally, said the Online Safety Act was a “censorship law”.
So far in 2025, the Trump administration has moved to restrict visas for foreign journalists, removed “climate change” and similar terms from government websites, banned journalists from White House briefings, sued US media organisations, pardoned criminals convicted of violence against journalists and dismantled American news organisations broadcasting outside the US.
Last week, the US government released its national security strategy, saying it would be “cultivating resistance” to European governments by supporting populist parties, assumed to be Reform UK and Germany’s Alternative für Deutschland.
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