The US State Department says it will use AI to review social media accounts to revoke visas of students who seem to support designated terror groups like Hamas
www.axios.com/2025/03/06/s... Katie Kirchner / @katie-kirchner : That someone can “appear” to be something and face the state violence of deportation is both so incredibly infuriating, and yet, so deeply American. How many people are sitting in jails without being convicted of any crime? Have died at the hands of police for ‘appearing’ guilty? [embedded post] Tim Carmody / @tcarmody : This is another case where the underlying policy is evil, and using half-baked pseudo-"AI" to execute it just shows how careless the people pursuing it are www.axios.com/2025/03/06/s... Mastodon: Dare Obasanjo / @carnage4life@mas.to : A reminder that the First Amendment doesn't apply to foreign nationals. If someone's on a student visa and posted pro-Hamas comments on social media, then this is grounds for the visa to be revoked. — https://www.axios.com/... X: Laura Loomer / @lauraloomer : Artificial Intelligence (AI) will now be used by the US State Department to help identify pro HAMAS foreign students and revoke their visas. The AI-fueled program is being called “Catch and Revoke”. Tongue and cheek mockery of the Democrats' Catch and Release programs. [image] Secretary Marco Rubio / @secrubio : Those who support designated terrorist organizations, including Hamas, threaten our national security. The United States has zero tolerance for foreign visitors who support terrorists. Violators of U.S. law — including international students — face visa denial or revocation, and deportation. Bill Melugin / @billmelugin_ : BREAKING: Per a senior State Department official, yesterday, the State Dept. revoked the first visa for an “alien who was previously cited for criminal behavior in connection with Hamas-supporting disruptions”. I'm told this person was a university student, and “ICE will Virginia Foxx / @virginiafoxx : Doing the right thing for the right reason. Stephen Neukam / @stephen_neukam : Scoop from @MarcACaputo: State Dept. to use AI to revoke visas of foreign students who appear “pro-Hamas” Includes AI-assisted reviews of tens of thousands of student visa holders' social media accounts Wow https://www.axios.com/... Senator Katie Boyd Britt / @senkatiebritt : Tremendous news—and common sense that was sorely lacking in the previous administration. Supporting a designated terrorist organization threatens our national security. Any foreign national doing so should have their visa revoked and be removed from our nation. Ari Fleischer / @arifleischer : Yes! It's about time. Finally, the State Department and the White House are doing what should have been done a long time ago. Biden wouldn't do it. Trump promised he would. Pro-Hamas foreigners, especially those who disrupt college campuses, should all be kicked out. LinkedIn: Greg Siskind : Bad. Doesn't matter how you feel about the substantive political issue here. Using AI in this way is a misuse of the tech. … Forums: r/Pitt : State Dept. to use AI to revoke visas of foreign students who appear “pro-Hamas” r/ABoringDystopia : State Dept. to use AI to revoke visas of foreign students who appear “pro-Hamas” r/politics : State Dept. to use AI to revoke visas of foreign students who appear “pro-Hamas” r/LeopardsAteMyFace : State Department to use AI to revoke visas of foreign students who appear “pro-Hamas” r/IntltoUSA : Be careful with your social media (including Reddit!): U.S. to use AI to revoke visas of foreign students who appear “pro-Hamas” r/InternationalNews : BREAKING: U.S. State Department to use AI to revoke visas of foreign students who appear “pro-Hamas” r/foreignservice : Scoop: State Dept. to use AI to revoke visas of foreign students who appear “pro-Hamas”
Context & Ripple Effects
This extends a long-running move from collecting visa applicants’ social-media identifiers to using posts in immigration enforcement. The record already included a Trump-era social-media registration rule that the Biden administration said it would defend, and reporting that ICE used GOST to classify posts as derogatory.
The new element is AI-assisted review tied explicitly to revocation of student visas for apparent support of designated groups. That shifts social-media screening from an application-stage data requirement toward an ongoing enforcement workflow.
First-order effects
- Foreign student visa holders’ public social-media activity becomes an input to State Department revocation decisions under the announced policy.
- The State Department must operationalize a process for identifying, classifying, and escalating posts that appear to support designated organizations, with AI used as part of the review.
Second-order effects
- Universities serving international students may face more uncertainty around enrollment continuity when visa status can turn on social-media assessments.
- The move builds on prior government use of social-media screening, including DHS planning to scrutinize visa applicants’ posts, and increases the importance of how agencies set review and escalation standards for automated flags.
Third-order effects
- If applied broadly, immigration enforcement could become a durable testing ground for state-mediated AI that converts online expression into administrative-risk signals.
- The central governance question will be whether agencies can make automated screening auditable and contestable when the consequence is loss of immigration status; the available coverage does not establish those safeguards.
The trend: Governments are moving AI from data analysis into high-consequence administrative screening, especially where immigration systems already collect digital traces.