“Social media platforms are important forums for expressive activity, and the government’s invasive and chilling social media vetting scheme burdens First Amendment-protected speech and association,” said Nicola Morrow, legal fellow at the Knight First Amendment Institute. “Social media disclosure requirements affect millions of travelers and immigrants each year, and after the government previously rejected similar proposals, the public deserves to know what changed and how the government explains its reversal.”

In 2019, OIRA approved a State Department proposal requiring nearly all visa applicants to disclose their social media identifiers. It later rejected two similar Department of Homeland Security proposals, in one case after questioning the requirement’s usefulness. Under the second Trump administration, however, OIRA approved a proposal to institute a social media disclosure requirement on the exact same forms at issue in the proposal it had previously rejected, without publicly explaining its change in position.

The Knight Institute submitted three FOIA requests between 2024 and 2026 seeking records related to these decisions. After OMB failed to produce responsive records, the Institute filed suit.

The requested records could shed light on whether social media disclosure requirements are effective, what evidence supported OIRA’s decisions, and why the agency reversed course on policies that affect millions of travelers and applicants for visas and immigration benefits each year.

The lawsuit builds on the Knight Institute’s broader work challenging the government’s use of social media information in visa vetting. The Institute is also pursuing a related FOIA lawsuit.

Read today’s complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York here.

Read more about the case here.

Lawyers on the case include Nicola Morrow and Anna Diakun of the Knight First Amendment Institute.

For more information, contact: Lorraine Kenny, lorraine.kenny@knightcolumbia.org.