The United States introduced a new visa restriction policy Wednesday that applies to foreign authorities who censor Americans, with Washington’s top diplomat saying the persons who undermine the rights of Americans should not enjoy the privilege of traveling to the country.
“Today, I am announcing a new visa restriction policy that will apply to foreign officials and persons who are complicit in censoring Americans,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said.
Free speech, he said, is “essential to the American way of life – a birthright over which foreign governments have no authority.”
Several foreign governments including Europeans have taken measures against American tech companies over differences on various issues.
“Even as we take action to reject censorship at home, we see troubling instances of foreign governments and foreign officials picking up the slack. In some instances, foreign officials have taken flagrant censorship actions against U.S. tech companies and U.S. citizens and residents when they have no authority to do so,” Rubio said in a statement.
The U.S. State Department called it “unacceptable” to seek arrest warrants on U.S. citizens or residents over posts on U.S. social media platforms while on U.S. soil.
“It is similarly unacceptable for foreign officials to demand that American tech platforms adopt global content moderation policies or engage in censorship activity that reaches beyond their authority and into the United States,” Rubio said.
The announcement comes in the wake of differences betwueen the U.S. technology companies and European and other countries.
Recently, X owner Elon Musk and Brazil were at odds over content on the social media platform as the South American country’s Supreme Court Judge ordered to remove certain posts.
“Foreigners who work to undermine the rights of Americans should not enjoy the privilege of traveling to our country. Whether in Latin America, Europe, or elsewhere, the days of passive treatment for those who work to undermine the rights of Americans are over,” Rubio added in a post on X.
Iftikhar Ali is a veteran Pakistani journalist, former president of UN Correspondents Association, and a recipient of the Pride of Performance civil award
