A group of independent tech researchers is seeking to block the State Department policy.
The Trump administration is fighting for the right to keep some social media moderation advocates out of the US.
On Wednesday, US District Court Judge James Boasberg heard arguments in a lawsuit between the nonprofit Coalition for Independent Technology Research (CITR) and Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other Trump administration officials. The suit concerns a policy that allows restricting visas to foreign officials who “demand that American tech platforms adopt global content moderation policies.” The CITR is arguing for a preliminary injunction blocking the policy, which the State Department has already referenced when it sanctioned five people who work on online disinformation issues, including the former European official who spearheaded enforcement of its digital services rules. It says allowing the policy to continue will silence people researching topics like content moderation and misinformation online.
The policy in question was announced in May last year, and the State Department issued the sanctions in December, saying its targets “advanced censorship crackdowns by foreign states.” The group included the former EU official Thierry Breton, and executives from the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) and Global Disinformation Index (GDI), both of which are members of CITR. CCDH’s CEO Imran Ahmed, who was a target of the sanctions, is a lawful permanent US resident, according to CITR.
