NEW YORK—According to news reports, the Trump administration this week announced that applicants for H-1B visas for highly skilled workers would be subject to increased vetting, with an eye toward rejecting those involved in what it considers “censorship.” A recent State Department cable reportedly requires U.S. consular officers to review applicants’ resumes or LinkedIn profiles to determine if they have worked in areas related to misinformation, disinformation, content moderation, fact-checking, or trust and safety online.

The following can be attributed to Carrie DeCell, senior staff attorney and legislative advisor at the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University:

“People who study misinformation and work on content-moderation teams aren’t engaged in ‘censorship’— they’re engaged in activities that the First Amendment was designed to protect. This policy is incoherent and unconstitutional.”

For more information, contact: Adriana Lamirande, [email protected]