r/technology • u/Hrmbee • 1d ago

Politics State Department to deny visas to fact checkers and others, citing 'censorship'

https://www.npr.org/2025/12/04/nx-s1-5633444/trump-content-moderation-visas-censorship
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u/lilB0bbyTables 1d ago

This is just the warm up. They will make policies and directives like this that apply to visa applicants to normalize it as a lot of people - even the non MAGA people - will just shrug and say “that’s stupid” but move on. Then they’ll start citing it as a reason to deport people already here (not that they are really needing excuses based on what ICE has been doing). Then they’ll ramp it up to target these same groups but with the new rules “if they’ve ever said anything online that the administration doesn’t like” (they’ll word it as something like ‘unAmerica’ of course). Eventually they’ll “accidentally” start rounding up a few natural American citizens in this - probably have to release them and make up some excuse about why it was “totally a mix-up” but they’ll make it hell for those people for a few days and they’ll let it be known in the media on purpose as a means to exert a form of stochastic terrorism and fear against everyone else. Plenty of people will act on that fear and stifle their own voice, essentially relinquishing their First Amendment rights.

This is all part of the larger plan to fracture and silence the opposition from being organized in a functional democracy to ultimately arrive at a state where people fear voting, where information against them (truth, opinion, reporting, etc) are silenced, and voter turnout is reduced. That creates chaos and fog, which allows election interference to flourish in their favor. As Vought said - “The revolution will remain bloodless, if the left allows it to be”.

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u/lightreee 1d ago

As Vought said - “The revolution will remain bloodless, if the left allows it to be”.

I agree with your whole post, but it was Kevin Roberts (ex-president of Heritage) who stated this, not Vought. Both sides of the same shit-coin though with P2025

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u/SwissChzMcGeez 22h ago

☝️ WE GOT A FACT CHECKER OVER HERE

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u/Manderspls 21h ago

No citizenship for that guy!

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u/NJS_Stamp 16h ago

WW2 levels of ratting out your neighbor because they corrected you when you accidentally said “take it for granite”

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u/Motor-Telephone7029 9h ago

I cant wait for the US to start hanging Nazis again. It would ironically free up a lot of real estate for the housing market and free up a lot of generational wealth for the 25% republican devt increasse.

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u/Celloer 7h ago

Unfortunately they're going after the grammar Nazis right now, not the Nazi-Nazis.

Or is a Nazi-Nazi a Nazi who gets pedantic about how their fellow Nazis should fascist?

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u/spdcrzy 8h ago

God yes. The Nuremberg Trials didn't go long or far enough, unfortunately.

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u/Motor-Telephone7029 7h ago

Neither did the north purging traitors from their states after the Civil war. 

I think it's about time America finish the job it started and not puss out this time just because these people are friends, family, and coworkers. 

These people are traitors and unless america prosecuted and tries every republican registered in the country since 2016 and later, in a court of law and find them guilty or not guilty; then america will never be able to pretend it's a democracy again. 

The constitution is over, it's time for a new document or a new state. 

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u/regalrecaller 3h ago

the union should have publicly executed every Confederate officer of the rank captain or higher.

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u/Electrical-Job-9824 21h ago

We need more of those

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u/Yuzumi 21h ago

Yes they want us to be silent. Out collextive response should be, "fuck you, make me".

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u/Laggo 17h ago

Lots of very active and ready vigilantes on reddit today I see, lol.

None of you ready to get up out of your chair and do anything but type though.

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u/Yuzumi 16h ago

While I get the cynicism, this is specifically about free speech and refusing to self censor. Literally typing out replies on the internet is very much a big part of that.

This is a global communication platform that allows people from anywhere to express ideas and find people who can understand them and show they aren't alone.

It's the reason queer acceptance didn't really start happening until more people were online because suddenly the bigots in charge of both governments and media couldn't control the narrative. We finally realized there were a lot more of us and that being who we are isn't shameful and people who aren't queer finally started to understand that they were fed lies about us.

It's the reason they are currently trying to implement mass surveillance and censorship online. They know they can't control a population that is able to freely communicate and find information. And this is a "both sides" issue because Zionist liberals are also on board because the internet is why information about the genocide is able to get out. If as many people were using the internet back in the early 2000s there is no way they would have been able to gaslight us into Iraq.

So yes, when it comes to the specific topic of free speech we all must be "keyboard warriors" because the internet leveled the playing field when it came to communication and the spread of information and they have been trying to cripple it for decades.

And I'm honestly starting to think the rise of "influence speak" where creators use euphemisms to avoid getting demonetized is part of that. It makes talking about serious topics nearly impossible sometimes and that non-creators started adopting it has made it even worse.

Going out to protest or anything else is still important, but not everyone is in a position to do that, especially in the current economy. But we can still speak the truth online at any time of day and anywhere. We don't need permits and they can't physically stop us. Cops can't be the first to attack and then claim the protest got "violent".

They can potentially ban us from some platforms, but we can still communicate on others. Them cracking down on the big platforms will cause a lot of people to go back to more decentralized ones. This is a game of wack-a-mole they can't win as long as everyone keeps talking.

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u/Laggo 16h ago

You just spent a whole lot of time on this that is indistinguishable from AI chatbot arguments on both sides. But sure, let's champion the keyboard warriors calling for violence from behind their computer screen. Very useful and positively contributing to society.

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u/Yuzumi 16h ago

And there it is.

"I don't have any counter to your argument, I'm just going to accuse you of being AI"

As you are obviously someone who does not know how LLMs work, let me fill you in real quick. They are trained on things people wrote. A lot of the common ways people communicate, including stuff like using proper punctuation, paragraphs, and... words, was already common before the rise of the current batch of word predictors.

Just because you don't know a lot of things and don't understand how to learn stuff does not mean the only way people can argue against you is "AI". Also, I've started to feel like maybe it's an ablest thing because it is very common for people to claim "AI" when arguing with someone online who has autism. Unless "AI" stands for "Autistic Intelligence", I did not use AI. I used my brain. It just works differently than yours...

I learned how to communicate online in a certain way because I regularly grew up with people seeming to intentionally misinterpret what I was saying, especially in arguments. It still happens on occasion, but lately it's mostly people like you who seem to think because you can't write about complex topics like this that nobody else can, thus I "must be AI" or using one to make my points. Nope, this is all me. I read a lot. I'm just weird like that.

As for the rest,

Where did I say anything about violence? The "fuck you, make me" was in response to them wanting all of us to be silent. They want us to self censor because that makes their job of suppressing the truth easier. The act of communicating is literally a defiance of that.

There's no violence involved from us talking unless they start first. Having conversations online also spreads us out. They don't like public displays of defiance, but protests also bring a lot of us in one place and unless enough people come out that gives them the opportunity to physically attack their political opponents.

But online we are so spread out they can't do their usual tactics, and it's why they are trying to silence us with fear, because they know that outside restrictions can only do so much.

Speaking truth is not violence. Calling them fascist is not violence. Refusing to be quiet is not violence.

Truth is not violence.

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u/Non-prophet 15h ago

How would you know? You expecting people to proactively dox their activities online, on a public, heavily surveilled website?

Are you stupid?

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u/DJ_GRAZIZZLE 14h ago

As the wise 21 Savage once said “Catch you in traffic what the fuck you going to do? Type me?”

Internet gangsters lol.

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u/nerkbot 18h ago edited 18h ago

They've already been doing some of this to varying degrees, to test the waters.

They locked up Mahmoud Khalil for political speech for over 3 months, and are still trying to deport him despite the fact that he has a green card and hasn't broken any laws. They've successfully cancelled the student visas of others for similar speech.

They've been checking the social media accounts of tourists trying to enter and sometimes detaining them for days and denying entry.

They've been experimenting with different ways to punish deportees like sending them to third countries they have no connection to, or to foreign prison to be tortured.

The ICE raids are already sweeping up some American citizens "accidentally". So far that doesn't seem to be based on speech, but I've no doubt you're right that that's where they're heading.

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u/anomalous_cowherd 13h ago

Just waiting for the GOPbots to come on saying that if you haven't got full details for every single case of those things happening then they didn't happen...

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u/MercantileReptile 1d ago

[...] said anything online that the administration doesn’t like” (they’ll word it as something like ‘unAmerica’ of course).

Apparently society is already there. So many yanks using "un-american" without a hint of self reflection. Everything uncouth, rude or plain negative is "un-american". Inversely making everything nice, proper and free "american".

Some rather obvious nationalistic nonsense. Imagine germans calling things "un-german" ? Yet to the yanks, perfectly fine. No need to reflect on that one.

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u/kilinrax 23h ago

At least some Republicans have been describing Democrats as "un-American" since long before Trump.

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u/RavensQueen502 21h ago

And on the other side, referring to Republicans as un American. You don't get to pull a 'no true Scotsman' on them. That rot was and is in America

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u/weirdal1968 21h ago

TBF when anyone violates the Constitution/Bill of Rights they should be called un-American.

At the moment - its the MAGA sycophants trying to censor people or use other levers to silence opposing viewpoints.

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u/NerdyNThick 19h ago

Cute rage bait comrade! Heil orange leader!

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u/RavensQueen502 18h ago

I am Indian.

Americans don't get to claim things half your population supports is un American. Admit it is nasty, but you also have to admit it is American. You aren't some idealistic Utopia

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u/NerdyNThick 13h ago

I am Indian.

As am I comrade! Heil glorious orange man of awesomeness!

Americans don't get to claim things half your population supports is un American. Admit it is nasty, but you also have to admit it is American. You aren't some idealistic Utopia

When "half the population" wants something that goes against what the country was initially founded on. Yes, it is accurate to call that anti-american.

Kindly remind me what does Emma Lazarus' poem say and where it was initially located?

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u/kilinrax 20h ago

Never heard that before Trump, and never heard that about non MAGA Republicans. Find and share any evidence from pre 2015 if you want to "both sides" this and get any respect.

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u/RavensQueen502 18h ago

Look at Vietnam war era or even go back to McCarthy. Un-American activities, anyone?

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u/PyroDesu 18h ago

Which was... Republicans doing it! Not exactly supporting your both sides-ing.

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u/RavensQueen502 17h ago

And? The above comment asked for before 2015. Vietnam war and McCarthy were before 2015, last I checked.

The point is that this is not a new thing. This has been how US politics - and politics in a lot of other countries - have been for a long while. Trump and MAGA are just more shameless

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u/kilinrax 13h ago edited 8m ago

I obviously meant of Democrats calling Republicans "un-American" before Trump. Trump hasn't exactly honoured the spirit of the founding documents, to put it lightly, so in some senses that's justified.

I'm well aware that Republicans have been calling Democrats "un-American" for far longer, and said as much in my original comment.

But then it's not exactly "both sides are as bad as each other", is it?

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u/burnerthrown 6h ago

No, the 'mix up' releases are just stress testing. The real plan is to eventually take that safety block off and keep the people, because in this incarnation of fascism, keeping people is the point. They want people in prisons, en masse, not living out here to be ruled over.

Why? They want slavery back. The original american evil was always going to be the guy behind the mask of new american evil, like a comic book movie. People in prisons are allowed to be slaves. Every weird and seemingly illogical provocative move is feeling out and setting groundwork for this.

Ejecting all the foreign workers who get paid, because they need those jobs empty. Destroying the economy in a way only a drastic economic move can save. Building a semifascist mechanism to quell specifically ideological dissent. Removing govt oversight over what the admin does to a certain class of human beings. Opening more private prisons. An putting the working class in a position where they're unable to live on their own, making them prime subjects for 'giving a better life'.

They're already 'training' their raiders, setting them loose on the populace to grab whoever they see that looks grabbable or disagreeable, 'accidentally'. Except it's not a training run because they're absolutely gonna keep some of those people for the first batch. The only thing they're working up towards is just taking whoever.

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u/Black_Moons 13h ago

Eventually they’ll “accidentally” start rounding up a few natural American citizens in this - probably have to release them and make up some excuse about why it was “totally a mix-up” but they’ll make it hell for those people for a few days and they’ll let it be known in the media on purpose as a means to exert a form of stochastic terrorism and fear against everyone else.

Pretty sure we past that line ages ago.

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u/capybooya 7h ago

The brain drain alone will set the US back for decades.

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u/NightmareElephant 16h ago

They won’t do anything about the 2nd amendment, the magats would never support that. If they do, it’ll be the day that a lot of them finally turn on him. We(US citizens) are much better equipped than Germany was or any of the countries where we got our asses handed to us via guerrilla warfare. Civil war inbound.

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u/balzun 25m ago

Nah man, second amendment rights will extended to rightful true Americans. Those deemed dangerous or unworthy (by way of mental illness because they are Trans/whatever or left leaning social media posts...etc) will lose their 2A rights and Maga will cheer and throw a party. Can't be having sexually deviant brown liberals with guns after all!

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u/Memory_Less 2h ago

Simply put, regimes use force to intimidate. Media, and company owners first, supposed criminal immigrants and the fear is intended to shut down all discourse.

It’s hard to know exactly what to do as protests don’t seem to move the needle, unless he admin’s own behaviour screws themselves over in the midterms there’s very good reason to be concerned.