The United States is introducing a new visa ban rule for those who “censor” Americans posting comments on social media platforms that are owned by US tech firms. The announcement was made by US Secretary of State Maro Rubio.
Secretary Rubio said that it is “unacceptable” for foreign officials to attempt to “censor” Americans by threatening them with arrest warrants or other punitive actions in their country. He also said that visa bans would be implemented against foreign officials who demand content to be taken down or moderated on American tech platforms.
“It is unacceptable for foreign officials to issue or threaten arrest warrants on US citizens or US residents for social media posts on American platforms while physically present on US soil. It is similarly unacceptable for foreign officials to demand that American tech platforms adopt global content moderation policies or engage in censorship activity that reaches beyond their authority and into the United States,” the statement issued by Mr Rubio read.
The statement has not specified any particular country, or named any officials or individuals who will be affected by this new US visa ban announcement. Mr Rubio however, said that some foreign nationals have, in their official capacity, taken “flagrant censorship actions against US tech companies and US citizens and residents when they have no authority to do so.”
The new punitive visa action comes amid a series of legal and administrative actions taken by several European and Asian countries, which have served take down notices and imposed penalties after legal action in their respective countries against American social media firms.
While Secretary Rubio said in his statement that the new US visa restriction policy would apply to foreign nationals responsible for “censorship” of protected expression in the United States, the justification given is that if an American has posted remarks from US soil, action cannot be demanded by a country or its officials to whom the post is considered unacceptable or offensive. The statement also makes it clear that in such cases, take down notices or content moderation cannot be expected from an American social media or tech firm.
The European Union, Australia, countries in South America and Asia, have on a number of occasions, taken legal action or imposed penalties on US social media firms for not following rules and laws pertaining to that bloc or nation.
Most of the social media firms used worldwide are owned by American tech giants. X is owned by Elon Musk, Facebook and Instagram are owned by Meta (Mark Zuckerberg), YouTube is owned by Google, Truth Social is owned by Trump Media (Donald Trump), and BlueSky is owned by Jack Dorsey (former owner of Twitter).
(Inputs from Reuters)
