‘For too lengthy, Individuals have been fined, harassed, and even charged by overseas authorities for exercising their free speech rights. At this time, I’m asserting a brand new visa restriction coverage that can apply to overseas officers and individuals who’re complicit in censoring Individuals, Rubio mentioned.
The USA has introduced a brand new visa restriction coverage geared toward overseas officers who try to censor Individuals for social media exercise carried out on US-based platforms.
The transfer was confirmed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who described it as a response to what he known as “unacceptable” efforts by overseas governments to silence US residents or residents by authorized or punitive threats.
Rubio said that visa bans can be imposed on overseas nationals who, of their official capability, demand content material takedowns or implement censorship insurance policies on American tech platforms.
“It’s unacceptable for overseas officers to difficulty or threaten arrest warrants on US residents or residents for social media posts made whereas bodily current in the USA,” Rubio mentioned.
“It’s equally unacceptable to strain American tech companies to implement world moderation insurance policies that stretch past the authority of these overseas officers.”
‘For too lengthy, Individuals have been fined, harassed, and even charged by overseas authorities for exercising their free speech rights. At this time, I’m asserting a brand new visa restriction coverage that can apply to overseas officers and individuals who’re complicit in censoring Individuals. Free speech is important to the American lifestyle – a birthright over which overseas governments don’t have any authority,” he wrote.
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Although no particular nations or people had been named, Rubio claimed that some overseas actors have engaged in “flagrant censorship actions” with out jurisdiction over American platforms or customers.
This new coverage comes as a number of nations in Europe, Asia, and South America have initiated authorized proceedings, issued takedown notices, or levied fines towards US tech corporations for violating native content material legal guidelines. Whereas acknowledging these actions, the US stance is that protected speech originating from inside the USA can’t be topic to overseas censorship calls for.
Main platforms affected by such cross-border tensions embody X (owned by Elon Musk), Fb and Instagram (owned by Meta), YouTube (owned by Google), Reality Social (owned by Trump Media), and BlueSky (based by Jack Dorsey).