\n The Harry S. Truman Federal Building, headquarters of the U.S. Department of State, in a 2024 file photo.
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Kevin Dietsch\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n Kevin Dietsch\/Getty Images<\/p>\n <\/span>\n<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n The State Department is instructing its staff to reject visa applications from people who worked on fact-checking, content moderation or other activities the Trump administration considers “censorship” of Americans’ speech.<\/p>\n The directive, sent in an internal memo on Tuesday, is focused on applicants for H-1B visas for highly skilled workers, which are frequently used by tech companies, among other sectors. The memo was first reported by Reuters<\/a>; NPR also obtained a copy.<\/p>\n \n <\/div>\n \n <\/div>\n <\/p>\n “If you uncover evidence an applicant was responsible for, or complicit in, censorship or attempted censorship of protected expression in the United States, you should pursue a finding that the applicant is ineligible” for a visa, the memo says. It refers to a policy announced by Secretary of State Marco Rubio<\/a> in May restricting visas from being issued to “foreign officials and persons who are complicit in censoring Americans.”<\/p>\n The Trump administration has been highly critical<\/a> of tech companies’ efforts to police what people are allowed to post on their platforms and of the broader field of trust and safety, the tech industry’s term for teams that focus on preventing abuse, fraud, illegal content, and other harmful behavior online.<\/p>\n![\"In](\"https:\/\/npr.brightspotcdn.com\/dims3\/default\/strip\/false\/crop\/3333x3333+0+0\/resize\/100\/quality\/100\/format\/jpeg\/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F19%2Fce%2F2f50b7424920bd4649b5dbeff8ec%2Fgettyimages-2194859494.jpg\")
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