<
https://www.techdirt.com/2025/07/24/you-shouldnt-have-to-make-your-social-media-public-to-get-a-visa/>
"The Trump administration is continuing its dangerous push to surveil and
suppress foreign students’ social media activity. The State Department recently
announced an unprecedented new requirement that applicants for student and
exchange visas must set all social media accounts to “public” for government
review. The State Department also indicated that if applicants refuse to unlock
their accounts or otherwise don’t maintain a social media presence, the
government may interpret it as an attempt to evade the requirement or
deliberately hide online activity.
The administration is penalizing prospective students and visitors for
shielding their social media accounts from the general public or for choosing
to not be active on social media. This is an outrageous violation of privacy,
one that completely disregards the legitimate and often critical reasons why
millions of people choose to lock down their social media profiles, share only
limited information about themselves online, or not engage in social media at
all. By making students abandon basic privacy hygiene as the price of admission
to American universities, the administration is forcing applicants to expose a
wealth of personal information to not only the U.S. government, but to anyone
with an internet connection."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
