New lawsuit challenges Trump administration policy to collect foreigners’ social media accounts

Free-speech advocates are challenging the Trump Administration’s policy of requiring foreigners to list their social media accounts as part of their visa applications, alleging in a lawsuit filed Dec 5 that the policy violates federal law and runs afoul of the Constitution. The requirement — implemented as part of the President’s controversial crackdown on immigration — amounts to an illegal surveillance dragnet that threatens to chill political expression online, according to a group of documentary filmmakers, who filed their case with the backing of two advocacy groups, the Brennan Center for Justice and the Knight First Amendment Institute. Since May, the State Department has required visa applicants to list the names of all social media accounts they’ve had over the past five years on any of 20 services, including Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. The rules affect an estimated 14.7 million visa applicants each year, plaintiffs allege, and allow the US government to identify not only their declared accounts but also to learn the identities of their followers, family members and friends. The plaintiffs in the case, the Doc Society and the International Documentary Association, contend that the Trump administration’s social media policies specifically have imperiled their work with foreign filmmakers