CITR Challenges US Government Censorship Policy Threatening Deportation for Work on Social Media Platforms and Online Harms – The Coalition for Independent Technology Research filed a lawsuit today in partnership with the Knight First Amendment Institute and Protect Democracy, challenging the US government’s Censorship Policy that unconstitutionally targets noncitizen researchers, fact-checkers, and trust and safety workers for visa denials, revocations, detention, and deportation based on their work researching and reporting on social media platforms. The government Censorship Policy, announced in May 2025, targets everyday people, including researchers, scientists, nonprofit staff, and educators, for doing essential work to help the public understand social media and AI’s impact on children, digital surveillance, biased algorithms, and more. At the end of 2025, several Coalition members were barred from the United States under this policy, because of their research on important topics like online hate speech and platform advertising policies and practices. This policy is having a chilling effect, specifically on noncitizens who now fear detention or deportation simply because of their work helping people navigate social media and AI safely. This is censorship that directly impedes the work of researchers, prevents the Coalition from being able to gather members, and hurts the larger public’s ability to understand the impacts of AI, social media, and other technologies on our lives, workplaces, and communities.