Tell the Media: Expose Student Visa Surveillance

The Trump administration is now demanding that foreign students unlock their social media accounts so U.S. diplomats can scan for perceived “hostility” to American values before granting them student visas.

This isn’t about national security — it’s about silencing dissent.

Under this new State Department directive, students applying for F, M, or J visas must set all social media profiles to “public” and submit to government review. Posts that criticize the U.S. government or question its policies could be flagged and used to deny a visa.

This is a sweeping attack on privacy, academic freedom, and free speech — and the mainstream media is treating it like a routine policy tweak.

Let’s be clear: this isn’t vetting, it’s surveillance. It’s not security, it’s ideological policing. And it opens the door to punishing young people for political beliefs — especially those from communities already targeted by Trump’s agenda.

Add your name to demand the media stop normalizing this crackdown and start covering it as the authoritarian power grab it is. Silence now only guarantees more erosion of civil liberties tomorrow.