Since May 2025, the US State Department has publicized a visa restriction policy that targets and threatens deportation toward people who study and report on online harms.

[natematias@social.coop]

Since May 2025, the US State Department has publicized a visa restriction policy that targets and threatens deportation toward people who study and report on online harms.

Yesterday, @knightcolumbia & @protctdemocracy filed a lawsuit challenging this censorship policy on behalf of @transparenttech, whose members have been harmed by this policy.

“At a time when AI is rapidly changing our lives and economy and people are already worried about their freedom and safety online, we need independent researchers more than ever. This policy is meant to censor researchers into silence and keep the public in the dark, and that’s exactly what it’s doing” -- Brandi Geurkink, ED of CITR.

cc @pluralistic

Technology Researchers Challenge Trump Policy Threatening Deportation for Work on Social Media Platforms and Online Harms

Knight First Amendment Institute (knightcolumbia.org)

[natematias@social.coop]

As a US citizen whose research and freedom of expression have been harmed by this US censorship policy, I am a named declarant in the lawsuit.

You can read the description of how it has impacted me, my lab, and many others in the complaint that was filed yesterday (pages 43-45): https://knightcolumbia.org/documents/hpsetihu54

I'm not planning to talk to the press, but I do encourage you to follow news about this story, which I estimate affects the authors of more than 1% of peer reviewed papers in computer science.

Here's a story in NPR: https://www.npr.org/2026/03/09/nx-s1-5741213/trump-censorship-visas-deportation-lawsuit

The New York Times (paywalled): https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/09/us/politics/lawsuit-rubio-social-media.html