Washington (EFE).- The United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on Wednesday a new policy to restrict the issuance of visas to foreign officials who engage in censorship against US citizens or US-based content in social media.
“It is unacceptable for foreign officials to issue or threaten arrest warrants on US citizens or US residents for social media posts on American platforms while physically present on US soil,” Rubio said in a statement.
Consequently, the US’s chief diplomat announced “a new visa restriction policy that will apply to foreign officials and persons who are complicit in censoring Americans. Free speech is essential to the American way of life- a birthright over which foreign governments have no authority.”
He called it “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 US.”
Although he did not mention any specific cases, this announcement follows the standoff between Elon Musk’s social platform X and Brazil’s Supreme Court in 2024, when the court ordered the removal of fake profiles from the platform.
Brazil replied that US visa restrictions are a “sovereign” decision
Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira claimed that “the granting of visas is the sole responsibility of the issuing States.”
“As far as visas for individuals are concerned, each state has the sovereign right to grant or refuse entry,” Vieira told the Foreign Relations Committee of the Chamber of Deputies.
He said that this differs in the case of entry authorizations for “participants in multilateral meetings, such as the United Nations or the Organization of American States,” which are based in the US and have special regimes.
In January, the European Commission warned Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, that it must comply with content moderation policies after the company ended its data verification programs in the US in an attempt to appease Donald Trump’s new government.
US Vice President JD Vance criticized in February European countries in a speech in Munich, accusing them of “censoring” far-right voices.
Meanwhile, the Trump istration has revoked hundreds of student visas for those who participated in pro-Palestinian demonstrations at US universities and has suspended the issuance of new ones. In addition, it prepares to review the social media s of all applicants. EFE
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