The Trump administration may soon require all foreign students applying to study in the US to undergo social media vetting, ahead of which US embassies around the world have been told to stop scheduling new interviews for international student visas. “Effective immediately, in preparation for an expansion of required social media screening and vetting, consular sections should not add any additional student or exchange visitor (F, M, and J) visa appointment capacity until further guidance is issued septel, which we anticipate in the coming days,” states an official cable obtained by Politico. (“Septel” is State Department shorthand for “separate telegram”.) The cable, signed by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, does not specify what this “social media screening and vetting” would entail. But it is likely to slow the visa application process down. What ‘social media vetting’ may entail This will add an additional layer of scrutiny to an already lengthy and fairly comprehensive process. Put simply, to obtain a student visa, an applicant will have to open her social media history to consular services, who will flag any “objectionable” activity. Exactly what may be considered “objectionable” has not been made clear. Neither have the parameters of the vetting (that is, what consular officers will be looking for). The above-mentioned diplomatic cable, however, says that students will be required to provide social media details from 2019, Politico reported. The cable further hints that the move comes amid the Trump administration’s push towards “tackling antisemitism on university campuses”, which could mean that students with pro-Palestine content on social media may be filtered out of the visa application process. The vetting may also target students who are critical of Donald Trump and his policies online. The Trump administration had previously imposed social media screening mandates on returning international students who had allegedly participated in the widespread pro-Palestine protests in US university campuses. A blanket policy would simply increase the scope of previous mandates, and potentially make them less vague. “Many State Department officials have complained privately for months that past guidance has been vague. It’s unclear, for example, whether posting photos of a Palestinian flag on an X account could force a student to undergo additional scrutiny,” the Politico report said. Trump versus Universities This is the latest chapter in US President Donald Trump’s ongoing tussle with American Universities. Since they are a significant source of revenue for universities, international students have been caught in the crosshairs of this tussle. Just last week, the Trump administration issued an order preventing the prestigious Harvard University from enrolling international students. This move has since been temporarily blocked by a federal judge. Many in the administration, including Trump and Rubio, have repeatedly spoken about revoking student visas of those who participate in anti-Israel protests on campus. In March, the visa of a Turkish doctoral student Rumeysa Ozturk was revoked after she co-wrote an essay in a student newspaper calling for support for Palestine. The administration has also cracked down on many Ivy League universities with a large population of foreign students — including Columbia, Harvard, and Brown — by cutting down federal funding for not following guidelines to battle antisemitism on campus.
