The United States is expanding its vetting process for highly skilled H-1B visa applicants to include more social media checks, as applicants working in fields like misinformation and disinformation will also face enhanced scrutiny.

The US Department of State said Thursday that all H-1B applicants and their dependants must make all their social media profiles public to ensure they “do not intend to harm Americans and our national interests”. The move follows a similar order in July that all student visa applicants must make their social media profiles public.

H-1B visas allow US companies to hire foreign employees with “speciality” knowledge, usually in academia or fields like medicine, technology, finance and engineering. While they are classified as temporary visas, in practice, the H -1B provides a pathway to immigrate to the US.

As part of its enhanced checks, the State Department will also scrutinise H-1B applications for work in fields that promote the censorship of “free speech”, according to an internal cable obtained by the Reuters news agency.

The December 2 cable orders consular staff to review applicants’ LinkedIn and employment history for any work in “misinformation, disinformation, content moderation, fact-checking, compliance and online safety” or “social media or financial services companies involved in the suppression of protected expression”.

The new rules apply to any accompanying family members and applicants renewing their H-1B visa.

“If you uncover evidence an applicant was responsible for, or complicit in, censorship or attempted censorship of protected expression in the United States, you should pursue a finding that the applicant is ineligible,” the cable said.

The move marks a departure for the US State Department, which once funded overseas projects aimed at fact-checking and at fighting misinformation and disinformation, alongside the US Agency for International Development (USAID).

US President Donald Trump has moved to cut down on what he sees as restrictions on “free speech” – usually of conservative voices – since returning to the White House in January. Trump himself was previously deplatformed from X, formerly known as Twitter, following the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol. He was reinstated after tech billionaire and free speech absolutist Elon Musk bought the platform in 2022.

One of his first moves as president was to sign an executive order banning “federal censorship” of free speech. In May, the US State Department also threatened to bar foreign officials from entering the US who had worked to suppress free speech, including by pressuring US tech companies to regulate social media content. (Al Jazeera/Reuters)

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