Visiting students can't hide social media accounts from Uncle Sam anymore
- Reference: 1750889055
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2025/06/25/us_student_visa_applicants_social_media_public/
- Source link:
"Every visa adjudication is a national security decision," the State Department [1]said , adding that under the new guidance, the online presence of those seeking [2]study and exchange visas will be scrutinized.
"To facilitate this vetting, all applicants for F, M, and J nonimmigrant visas will be instructed to adjust the privacy settings on all of their social media profiles to 'public,'" the State Department said.
[3]
F visas are for academic study, M visas are for vocational or other nonacademic programs, and J visas are for participating in educational and cultural exchange programs.
[4]
[5]
US lawmakers became interested in social media screening after the December 2, 2015, [6]terrorist attack in San Bernardino, California, which killed 14 people. It was later learned that one of the assailants had [7]voiced support for violence in a private social media post.
Under the Obama administration, officials [8]proposed a program that allowed foreigners entering the US to volunteer their social media handles. Under the first Trump administration, the disclosure of social media handles [9]became mandatory [10]for nearly all visa applicants .
[11]
However, the requirement to make private social media accounts public is new. US officials have not disclosed how social media posts will be evaluated.
But according to [12]Politico , which obtained a copy of the State Department cable outlining the plan, consular officials are directed to look for "any indications of hostility towards the citizens, culture, government, institutions or founding principles of the United States," and to note any "advocacy for, aid or support for foreign terrorists and other threats to US national security" and any "support for unlawful antisemitic harassment or violence."
The State Department on May 27 [13]paused new student visa applications to consider social media vetting rules. Last week, it ordered the processing of student visa applications to resume, subject to the social media disclosure policy.
[14]
Visa applicants have already started wiping their social media clean, according to reports.
The [15]Korea Herald this week said that South Korean students seeking to study in the US have turned to "digital undertaker" services to scrub their social media accounts of potentially controversial posts. And according to [16]NDTV , Indian students planning to study in the US have been deleting their social media posts.
Ironically, the State Department on May 28 [17]said it would deny visas to foreign officials deemed to have censored social media posts of American citizens.
[18]Japan builds near $700M fund to lure foreign academic talent
[19]US to deny visas to foreign officials it says 'censor' social media
[20]Uncle Sam claims H-1B fraud crackdown is working as registrations drop 25%
[21]As US scientists flee Trump, MP urges Britain to do more to nab them
Sophia Cope, senior staff attorney at Electronic Frontier Foundation, told The Register in an email, "The US government is endorsing the violation of a fundamental principle of privacy hygiene by asking those seeking student or exchange visas to set their social media accounts to 'public' for the purpose of visa vetting. There are many valid reasons for people to have private social media accounts, where users decide to only engage and share personal information with trusted family and friends."
The US must end this dangerous practice
Cope said it's an outrage that the US might ascribe nefarious intent and penalize students for keeping their online posts private or for not being active on social media.
"Government social media surveillance invades privacy and chills freedom of speech, and it is prone to errors and misinterpretation without ever having been proven effective at assessing security threats," she said. "The US must end this dangerous practice."
Gregory Nojeim, senior counsel and director of the security and surveillance project at the Center for Democracy & Technology, expressed similar concern in a phone interview with The Register .
"The risk is that this State Department screen of foreign students' social media will screen out those who criticize government policy, as opposed to those who might be a danger to Americans," he said. "Criticism of government policy is an American pastime. There's nothing more patriotic."
Nojeim said we should not worry about allowing people with different political views into the country, noting that the screening criteria in the State Department cable could be interpreted to deny US entry to people who criticize President Trump.
Criticism of government policy is an American pastime. There's nothing more patriotic
"Imagine the reaction of students in the US and their parents if a foreign government said, 'You can't visit, your student cannot study here, unless you set your social media to public,'" said Nojeim. "People would be outraged, they'd insist our government intervene on their behalf with the foreign government. But that's exactly what our government is saying to foreign students."
Nojeim said he expects the public profile requirement to make foreign students less likely to come to the US and more likely to take their talent to other countries. "I'm also concerned that it seems like a backhanded way to discourage foreigners from criticizing US policy," Nojeim said.
According to [22]NAFSA , the Association of International Educators, "international students studying at US colleges and universities contributed $43.8 billion and supported 378,175 jobs" in the 2023-24 academic year.
Nojeim cautioned that it's difficult to tell from social media commentary whether a person is dangerous or simply opinionated. It becomes more complicated when those comments are made in a multitude of foreign languages, he said. He expects the screening will involve automation and AI, with all the potential problems that come with that approach.
In 2017, the Office of the Inspector General for the US Department of Homeland Security [23]published [24]a report [PDF] about pilot tests within US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to automate social media screening. The report found that the ICE pilot test lacked metrics to judge whether it was effective, and the USCIS pilot showed that the tool being evaluated "was not a viable option for automated social media screening and that manual review was more effective at identifying accounts [linked to content that might affect immigration eligibility]." ®
Get our [25]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.state.gov/releases/office-of-the-spokesperson/2025/06/announcement-of-expanded-screening-and-vetting-for-visa-applicants/
[2] https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/study.html
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/publicsector&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aFzF1gsD13qlhmT_QvmvygAAAA8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/publicsector&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aFzF1gsD13qlhmT_QvmvygAAAA8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/publicsector&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aFzF1gsD13qlhmT_QvmvygAAAA8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2016/02/19/us_doj_apple/
[7] https://www.cnn.com/2015/12/14/us/san-bernardino-shooting/index.html
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2016/09/21/want_to_visit_the_land_of_the_free_then_customs_will_demand_social_media_accounts/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2017/02/08/dhs_wants_enhanced_digital_vetting/
[10] https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/29/politics/immigrants-social-media-information
[11] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/publicsector&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aFzF1gsD13qlhmT_QvmvygAAAA8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[12] https://www.politico.com/news/2025/06/18/social-media-screening-student-visas-00413160
[13] https://www.politico.com/news/2025/05/27/trump-team-orders-stop-to-new-student-visa-interviews-as-it-weighs-expanding-social-media-vetting-00370501
[14] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/publicsector&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aFzF1gsD13qlhmT_QvmvygAAAA8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[15] https://www.koreaherald.com/article/10515737
[16] https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/indian-students-are-deleting-social-media-posts-accounts-for-us-visas-report-8591049
[17] https://www.theregister.com/2025/05/29/us_to_deny_visas_social_media/
[18] https://www.theregister.com/2025/06/16/japan_has_a_yen_for/
[19] https://www.theregister.com/2025/05/29/us_to_deny_visas_social_media/
[20] https://www.theregister.com/2025/05/15/h1b_applications_droped/
[21] https://www.theregister.com/2025/05/09/uk_draws_us_scientists/
[22] https://www.nafsa.org/policy-and-advocacy/policy-resources/nafsa-international-student-economic-value-tool-v2
[23] https://www.theregister.com/2017/03/10/autoscanning_us_visitors_social_media_doesnt_work/
[24] https://www.oig.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/assets/2017/OIG-17-40-Feb17.pdf
[25] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Yeah, what an oversight, we should do the same
That's what you think the US should aspire to?
No.
We should shoot them. We're good at that.
"Nojeim said we should not worry about allowing people with different political views into the country, noting that the screening criteria in the State Department cable could be interpreted to deny US entry to people who criticize President Trump."
"Could be interpreted"? There was already that French scientist who was deported for criticising Trump's gutting of research funding in private messages. It's interesting to watch the American mainstream media talk about the "risk" of "sliding into" authoritarianism. Wake up, you're already living under an authoritarian regime.
Was that the French scientist who had controlled data (which he was allowed to view but not transport outside of a government facility, much less on an insecure device) on his phone?
Already living under an authorization regime.
Exactly, except for some stupid reason the media seems to be in total denial.
It's the old "that could never happen here" syndrome.
They need to watch some documentaries about 1930s Germany.
You aren't much of a student if you don't criticise the government.
The US is a place to avoid now, for students, tourists, business and investment.
US colleges, ones that haven't been taken down by Trump, may have, or can implement campuses for foreign students, outside the US, if they want to, to avoid subjecting young people to potential imprisonment by jackbooted border guards loyal to the orangenführer. Other colleges in other countries are available, but expect some to copy the US, also becoming places to avoid.
Lots of places were nice once, but now are not. It happens.
Re: You aren't much of a student if you don't criticise the government.
> You aren't much of a student if you don't criticise the government.
It is pretty much a rite of passage for many students to get to college, think that the whole country is f*cked and demand it be turned into some kind of socialist "utopia", graduate, grow up, get a job, start to earn money then realise that they actually would quite like to keep their hard-earned cash, thank you very much.
Real life has that effect.
Yes, it has always been thus. What is different, now, is that the people supposedly in charge of these places don't have sufficient backbone to be the adults and they indulge their misguided fantasies. Which is how we got scenes of students kidnapping the staff and holding them hostage in their classrooms and such. Maximum cringe.
Re: You aren't much of a student if you don't criticise the government.
It's funny how whenever you hear someone start talking about "hard-earned cash" and "real life" and harping on about "growing up", you know it's going to be one of those "pull yourself up by the bootstraps" kind of conservatives, mostly likely on the way to being a "deport all the immigrants and/or put them in concentration camps" kind of conservative.
Re: You aren't much of a student if you don't criticise the government.
Yes. It's sad how they try to justify being selfish pricks.
As I got older and richer, if anything, I've gotten more socialist
Sure, I hate my taxes going to cheats and corruption, but that's generally greedy politicians rather than the deserved poor.
Re: You aren't much of a student if you don't criticise the government.
The same sort of conservatives who complain that "we didn't use to have riots in this country", and thus exposing their ignorance. The Riot Act of 1714 was not there for the uppity grandmas of East Sussex.
Re: You aren't much of a student if you don't criticise the government.
English hatred of the Germans? Your nom de guerre seems rather inaccurate.
Re: You aren't much of a student if you don't criticise the government.
> you know it's going to be one of those "pull yourself up by the bootstraps" kind of conservatives
And you would be wrong. I am a centre-left liberal. I believe in nationalised healthcare and a limited safety net in general. Just goes to show, you read a couple of sentences from someone, and you believe that you know everything about that person's beliefs. You are sorely mistaken.
Re: You aren't much of a student if you don't criticise the government.
As long as you do it from your own country, say whatever the hell you want, about whowever the hell you want. Don't expect US customs to ignore your words and actions.
Claiming 'youth'??? Fuck off.
Re: You aren't much of a student if you don't criticise the government.
Maybe that was the case back in the 60s and 70s when there were professional jobs for graduates to go into and earn a reliable comfortable living for themselves and their families.
For anyone who has grown up under the kleptocracy that has been in place since the Reagan era, the whole country is f*cked and demanding it be turned into some kind of socialist "utopia" where billionaires and presidents don't feel inclined to buy entire islands so they can isolate themselves from the anger of the millions of people whose labour enabled them is the only way society will have any actual security, as opposed to the illusion of security the kleptocrats have been selling us unsuccessfully for decades.
Why?
No, not "why is the new Imperial Order of the USA doing this", why are there still students trying to go there?
Do they watch any news? Universities under threat, funding slashed into oblivion, senior scientists being poached by other countries, anti-science sentiment to the top ranks of the government.
Yes, you spent *years* getting through that paperwork for get that exchange/research/postgrad program, when the US unis still led the way globally, never mind the humiliation you probably had to go through to get the visum. All that work for nothing!
But wake the fuck up!
It will also have been for nothing if you end up refused entry at best and disappeared at worst, because of some post on TikTok!
Re: Why?
Yeah, we recently changed our travel plans and went to Mexico instead of the US. We still had to transit via LA, which was less terrible than I anticipated at least. But Mexico, wow! So many stereotypes in my head were crushed - I kept thinking I was in southern Europe at times. But I digress, the point being that we decided to avoid the US and it worked out very well for us.
Just don't go.
I wouldn't head to the USA to study, vacation, or work, even if it were free. Why chance being rounded up by masked thugs (who may or may not be working for the government) and potentially shipped off to a foreign concentration camp in a 3rd country?
Other religions?
>> "support for unlawful antisemitic harassment or violence."
Presumably support for anti Hindu or anti Muslim or anti Confucian or other religions is perfectly fine. Presumably posts in favour of bombing hospitals are OK, as long the 'right' people are being bombed.
All those people deleting their social media posts are deluded. The USA has already slurped it all. Private does not mean private from Uncle Sam. There is this little snippet which is interesting: "for not being active on social media". Well I know quite a few people who are not active. Typically they are much older, not tech savvy, and some of them don't have computers or smartphones. Try telling that to ICE.
This is barely the beginning. The USA under Trump, but not just him, is going down the shitter. The USA is infected with its "exceptionalism" mindset. It's just another version of the Übermensch, and we saw how that ideal was misused. When will people wake up? It won't be long before there are concentration camps in the USA for the 'wrong' people. The US constitution is not worth two cents and will not protect Americans. Given the hateful politics in the USA, neighbours will happily turn in each other.
But it's not just about Trump. Many US states ban books from school libraries. Land of the free, my arse.
It's a great shame. There is on paper a lot to like about the USA. But it's turning itself into something it used to complain about other countries.
Don't go to the USA, guys and girls. Don't sell out for dollars in your pocket.
Re: Other religions?
> Many US states ban books from school libraries. Land of the free, my arse.
Of course they do. WTF? You know that little kids go to school libraries right? Jeez. :O
The constitution of the US protects adults. We have a different standard for our kids and rightly so.
Time for AI generated Social Media Accounts
Let me see, I want a social media account that:
Is active enough to give screeners enough satisfying content.
Contains no indications of bad feeling towards the the destination country.
Contains no indications of aggression or support for terrorism.
Will get me approved for entry.
Contains no information that is verifiably false.
And that gets interactions from other accounts that are from other manufactured social media accounts that are for the same purpose.
Might get a bit fraught if manufactured social media accounts created for getting into the US start interacting with social media accounts manufactured for getting into China.
And that I can delete and then recreate for the next country I need to go to.
Another business opportunity for those companies that generate homework assignments and term papers.
I am sure that there would be a lot of students willing to pay for it.
“I believe you find life such a problem because you think there are good people and bad people. You're wrong, of course. There are, always and only, the bad people, but some of them are on opposite sides.”
― The Patrician, Ankh-Morpork
― Terry Pratchett, Guards! Guards!
"any indications of hostility towards the citizens, culture, government, institutions or founding principles of the United States,"
When the US government becomes hostile to the founding principles of the United States, one cannot support both.
Hmm. Downvote without a reply.
- My comment was a perfectly valid syllogism
- The idea that the US government must, constitutionally, abide any and all political criticism of itself is one of the US's founding principles
I suspect the downvote is pure cognitive dissonance.
This is essentially a Catch 22 situation. Support the Constitution or the Govt?
This is going to backfire
Other countries will go tit for tat and say "you want to make our citizens open up their profiles, fine we'll make that a condition for American citizens to enter ours on a tourist visa" and watch all the MAGA talking heads on TV go fucking INSANE. But there will be nothing Trump can do about it other than call those countries "shithole countries" or threaten them with tariffs that will be reciprocated.
Its all because Trump wants to be able to eject foreign students who say bad things about him, because he's the thinnest skinned human ever to survive birth.
hooray for the wayback machine.
I expect that your friends instagram posts about attending an anti-american rally with you are going to make your stay in the US a loop through the international terminal at JFK. If you start blithering about 'free speech' we'll invite you to do it from home.
Doesn't Thailand jail critics of the monarch?