Lawsuit challenges US policy barring visas for social media researchers

Source: Reuters

March 9, 2026 4:23 PM EDT Updated 11 hours ago


March 9 (Reuters) - A group of technology researchers filed a lawsuit on Monday alleging that ​U.S. President Donald Trump's administration has adopted an unconstitutional policy that targets foreign nationals who study ‌disinformation and hate speech on social media for visa denials and deportation. The San Francisco-based Coalition for Independent Technology Research in a lawsuit filed in federal court in Washington argues that the administration's policy unlawfully chills the work of non-citizen researchers in the United ​States.

The group said the U.S. State Department, while claiming it is fighting online censorship that Trump's ​allies have argued has affected conservative speech on social media, is engaged in a "brazen ⁠and far-reaching campaign of censorship" targeting researchers and anti-disinformation advocates.

The lawsuit asks a judge to block the policy ​on the grounds that it violates the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment protections for free speech, Fifth Amendment promise ​of due process as well as requirements under a federal law called the Administrative Procedure Act.

"The Trump administration is using the threat of detention and deportation to suppress speech it disfavors," Carrie DeCell, a lawyer for the coalition at the Knight First ​Amendment Institute at Columbia University, said in a statement.

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/lawsuit-challenges-us-policy-barring-visas-social-media-researchers-2026-03-09/