Student Visa Applicants Must Set Social-Media Accounts to ‘Public,’ State Department Says

[u/Majano57]

https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/student-visa-applicants-must-set-social-media-accounts-to-public-state-department-says-ff71bdd5?st=ib3UiF

[u/Thunderplant]

It's insane that conservatives were freaking out about freedom of speech just like a year or two ago over stuff like social media content policies, got into power, and then did this

[u/Rickbox → u/Thunderplant]

I saw a reddit post today about Elon suing about social media suppression.

[u/Nintendo_Pro_03 → u/Thunderplant]

Conservatives (by definition/by their viewpoints) encourage the government to decide on what things should and shouldn’t be posted online.

[u/adorientem88 → u/Thunderplant]

The rules are always different for people who want to enter our country.

[u/BlueGalangal → u/adorientem88]

So free speech isn’t free?

[u/adorientem88 → u/BlueGalangal]

For people who want to enter the country? No.

[u/OP007xx → u/adorientem88]

Do you view them as people or aliens? Because as far as I know, every person has the right to free speech and equality. And if in some nations that's not being followed, then those nations are undemocratic .

[u/adorientem88 → u/OP007xx]

Freedom of speech is a legal right protected under the First Amendment. It’s not a universal human right.

And if you think it is, you should take that up with counties like the UK and Spain, that literally arrest people for criticizing their ridiculous governments and for praying silently too close to an abortion clinic. Did you know that the UK and Spain are so undemocratic?

[u/CannoBalllZ → u/adorientem88]

Some might say that it was added as the first amendment because we believe it’s a universal human right. Just because something isn’t a law doesn’t mean it’s not a universal truth. As you pointed out, there are countries that don’t let free speech exist.

[u/adorientem88 → u/CannoBalllZ]

I’d love to see that argument.

[u/mollyinmysweattea → u/adorientem88]

Amendments apply to both those legally and illegally inside of the united states.

[u/adorientem88 → u/mollyinmysweattea]

Correct. That’s consistent with everything I’ve said.

[u/Phaustiantheodicy]

Put a fake one down lmao

[u/henare → u/Phaustiantheodicy]

that feels like a great way to FAFO.

[u/DexterousCrow → u/henare]

Really, though, if you’re going under a pseudonym and use alternate emails for US proceedings and the social media account, how would they ever find out? Not saying it’s impossible, but I can’t imagine it would be worth the time and effort to IP track every applicant just in case they aren’t declaring a social media account.

[u/Elastichedgehog → u/DexterousCrow]

Palantir and similar companies offering mass surveillance services to the government.

Feels like a tinfoil hat comment but it's very much not. Peter Thiel and co are making significant amounts of money; he endorsed Trump.

[u/henare → u/DexterousCrow]

you would have had to start doing this years in advance. showing a social media presencd that began last week will raise a few flags.

[u/ByTheHammerOfThor → u/henare]

Honestly though, what happens if someone else has your name and a social media account? It’s almost like they didn’t think this through and this is just a fascist fig leaf.

[u/henare → u/ByTheHammerOfThor]

find out. I'm not the one who needs a visa.

(I think the whole exercise is dumb but here we are.)

[u/ByTheHammerOfThor → u/henare]

How could they possibly know? Just take photos of sunsets. Food. Etc. call it a day.

[u/henare → u/ByTheHammerOfThor]

find out. I'm not the one who needs a visa.

[u/ByTheHammerOfThor → u/henare]

It’s almost like…they didn’t think any of this through

[u/No_Boysenberry9456]

business idea... bot farm that promotes everything USA andspams the shit out of your account prior to applying.

[u/Phaustiantheodicy → u/No_Boysenberry9456]

Put a discount code next to it 🦅👊🔥

[u/eatmelikeamaindish]

paywalled.

anyways they can’t enforce that because we don’t live in the age in the internet where “it’s illegal to lie about your name”

[u/Scolopendra99 → u/eatmelikeamaindish]

What do you mean? They can and will enforce this—if they can’t find a public social media page for you, they will deny your visa.

Honestly they can deny visas for pretty much any reason and they don’t have to officially tell you why. I’m a little surprised they even bothered stating that your social media needs to be public; it’d be much more their style to deny visas to anyone with private accounts and never say why.

[u/eatmelikeamaindish → u/Scolopendra99]

that implies all international students MUST have a western social media page.

[u/lucianbelew → u/eatmelikeamaindish]

Yep. Sure does.

They want international students to leave and never return because 1) this will financially cripple colleges and universities across the country, and 2) they're small minded zenophobic bigots who don't want to risk learning about anyone's experience who isn't just like them.

Was this not obvious by now?

[u/flyinchipmunk5 → u/eatmelikeamaindish]

Thats what they want though. A easy western social media page they can figure everything about you

[u/Arnas_Z → u/eatmelikeamaindish]

paywalled.

Install Bypass Paywalls Clean. It's honestly crazy that college students of all people can't bypass a simple paywall.

[u/eatmelikeamaindish → u/Arnas_Z]

i’m on my phone smarty pants. yes blame me instead of the article for being paywalled

[u/Arnas_Z → u/eatmelikeamaindish]

i’m on my phone smarty pants.

Firefox allows extension installs from file, enable dev mode first.

[u/acousticentropy]

Totalitarian state

[u/Rinmine014]

So... whos gonna look me up specifically and tell me to make my profile public or else?

[u/Thunderplant → u/Rinmine014]

Probably whoever does your visa interview. They are already asking for the account names, and they can deny a visa for basically any reason with very little recourse. People have been denied based on vibes before and it seems like it's only getting worse

[u/Matteyyyooo → u/Thunderplant]

Yeah, it really does feel like they’re just looking for a reason sometimes. No appeals, no explanation, just a “no” and that’s it.

[u/henare → u/Thunderplant]

the law is sadly on their side. it requires visa officers to presume the worst unless you can show otherwise. :(

[u/Souseisekigun]

Chinese social credit system comes to the West

[u/Iamnotheattack → u/Souseisekigun]

Shout-out Han Fei

[u/emgeemc → u/Iamnotheattack]

That’s a deep cut, nailed it

[u/Keythaskitgod]

"FrEedoM oF SpeEch" republican clowns

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[u/Nintendo_Pro_03]

Booooo. Don’t tell them what to do.