WASHINGTON: The US will impose visa bans on foreign nationals it deems to be censoring Americans, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Wednesday, and he suggested the new policy could target officials regulating US tech companies.

Rubio did not name any specific instances of censorship. But US tech companies and the Trump administration have challenged US allies in Europe, alleging censorship of social media platforms, but restricting officials from visiting the US appeared to be an escalation by Washington.

Rubio said in a statement that a new visa restriction policy would apply to foreign nationals responsible for censorship of protected expression in the US. He said it was unacceptable for foreign officials to issue or threaten arrest warrants for social media posts made 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,” Rubio said. Some foreign officials have taken “flagrant censorship actions against US tech companies and US citizens and residents when they have no authority to do so,” Rubio said.

Washington suspends student visa processing in fresh swipe at overseas applicants

US social media companies like Facebook and Instagram parent Meta have said an EU content moderation law, the Digital Services Act, amounts to censorship of their platform. The Trump-appointed chairman of the US Federal Communications Commission in March warned the EU Digital Services Act excessively restricts freedom of expression.

EU officials have defended the law, which is meant to make the online environment safer and fairer by compelling tech giants to do more to tackle illegal content, including hate speech and child sexual abuse material.

Block on student visas

The US State Department has ordered the suspension of student visa processing in the latest escalation of a Trump administration crackdown on foreign students criticised on Wednesday by China. President Donald Trump’s administration is seeking unprecedented control over leading US universities, including revoking foreign student visas and deporting some of those involved in protests against the conflict in Gaza.

A cable signed on Tuesday by Secretary of State Marco Rubio orders embassies and consulates not to allow “any additional student or exchange visa… appointment capacity until further guidance is issued.” The government plans to ramp up vetting of the social media profiles of international applicants to US universities, the cable said.

Rubio earlier rescinded hundreds of visas and the Trump administration has moved to bar Harvard University from admitting non-Americans. China’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning on Wednesday said Beijing urged Washington to “safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of international students, including those from China.”

Hundreds of thousands of Chinese students attend US universities, long viewed by many in China as beacons of academic freedom and rigour. The sweeping US measures have resulted in foreign governments moving to snap up affected students, with Japan and Hong Kong urging local universities to take in more international applicants.

Published in Dawn, May 29th, 2025