President Donald Trump’s State Department is leveraging the nation’s visa program to protect Americans from foreign speech censors, marking a monumental shift for free expression.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced Wednesday that the department would no longer grant visas for foreign nationals pushing to censor American speech.
‘America has the world’s strongest free-speech protections, but for years other countries have undermined those protections by globalizing their censorship regimes.’
He wrote in a post on X, “For too long, Americans have been fined, harassed, and even charged by foreign authorities for exercising their free speech rights.”
“Today, I am announcing a new visa restriction policy that will apply to foreign officials and persons who are complicit in censoring Americans. Free speech is essential to the American way of life — a birthright over which foreign governments have no authority,” Rubio stated.
He added in a separate post, “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’s announcement followed Vice President JD Vance’s speech at the Munich Security Conference in February, during which he expressed concern that American and European values are dangerously diverging. Vance specifically pointed to the erosion of freedom of speech protections in Europe.
“In Britain and across Europe, free speech, I fear, is in retreat,” he stated. “So I come here today, not just with an observation, but with an offer. And just as the Biden administration seemed desperate to silence people for speaking their minds, so the Trump administration will do precisely the opposite.”
Vance expressed interest in working with Europe to fortify free-speech protections and end censorship.
Nico Perrino, the executive vice president of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, told Blaze News, “America has the world’s strongest free-speech protections, but for years other countries have undermined those protections by globalizing their censorship regimes.”
Perrino explained that in the past, the federal government has attempted to protect Americans from foreign censorship. He highlighted the 2010 SPEECH Act, which blocks foreign defamation rulings flouting First Amendment standards from being enforced in the U.S.
“The Trump administration appears to recognize the problem, and it’s generally a good thing that the administration is seeking solutions to protect Americans from foreign efforts to erode their First Amendment rights,” Perrino added. “How this new policy will be implemented, and whether it will have its desired effect, remains to be seen.”
During February’s Artificial Intelligence Action Summit in Paris, Vance criticized the EU’s Digital Services Act for restricting speech on America-based technology platforms.
“Many of our most productive tech companies are forced to deal with the EU’s Digital Services Act and the massive regulations it created about taking down content and policing so-called misinformation,” Vance said. “For some, the easiest way to avoid the dilemma has been to simply block EU users in the first place.”
Rubio’s visa ban addresses Vance’s warnings about global censorship, concerns that U.S.-based technology leaders have also echoed, with the EU’s restrictions directly impacting American platforms, including Elon Musk’s X and Chris Pavlovski’s Rumble.
On Wednesday, Pavlovski praised Rubio for implementing the new visa restrictions against foreign censors, calling the move “an incredible win for free speech.”
Linda Yaccarino, the CEO of X, also expressed her support.
“We stand right alongside you, @SecRubio,” she wrote in a post on the social media platform.
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The post Rubio wages war on foreign free-speech tyrants with visa ban appeared first on TheBlaze.
