The Coalition for Independent Technology Research filed a lawsuit today in partnership with the Knight First Amendment Institute and Protect Democracy, challenging the US government’s Censorship Policy that unconstitutionally targets noncitizen researchers, fact-checkers, and trust and safety workers for visa denials, revocations, detention, and deportation based on their work researching and reporting on social media platforms.
The government Censorship Policy, announced in May 2025, targets everyday people, including researchers, scientists, nonprofit staff, and educators, for doing essential work to help the public understand social media and AI’s impact on children, digital surveillance, biased algorithms, and more. At the end of 2025, several Coalition members were barred from the United States under this policy, because of their research on important topics like online hate speech and platform advertising policies and practices.
This policy is having a chilling effect, specifically on noncitizens who now fear detention or deportation simply because of their work helping people navigate social media and AI safely. This is censorship that directly impedes the work of researchers, prevents the Coalition from being able to gather members, and hurts the larger public’s ability to understand the impacts of AI, social media, and other technologies on our lives, workplaces, and communities.
The Coalition is bringing this case because this policy is a violation of our First Amendment rights, and we want the government to immediately stop implementing the policy against the public interest research community so that scientists, students and nonprofit workers can continue to do their jobs helping people understand technology.
“Researchers who help everyday people understand the impacts of Big Tech are scared that they and their families will be targeted for detention and deportation under this policy,” said Brandi Geurkink, executive director of the Coalition for Independent Technology Research. “At a time when AI is rapidly changing our lives and economy and people are already worried about their freedom and safety online, we need independent researchers more than ever. This policy is meant to censor researchers into silence and keep the public in the dark, and that’s exactly what it’s doing.”
“The Trump administration is using the threat of detention and deportation to suppress speech it disfavors,” said Carrie DeCell, senior staff attorney and legislative advisor at the Knight First Amendment Institute. “By targeting researchers and advocates for their work studying and reporting on social media platforms and online harms, the policy chills protected speech and distorts public debate about issues of profound public importance.”
Read the complaint here.
Read more about Coalition for Independent Technology Research v. Rubio here.
About the Coalition for Independent Technology Research
The Coalition for Independent Technology Research (CITR) is a U.S.-based, non-partisan organization, whose membership includes research organizations, academics, and journalists studying emerging digital technologies and their social and political impacts. CITR’s core purpose is to advance, defend, and sustain the right to ethically study the impact of technology on society. www.independenttechresearch.org
About the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University
The Knight First Amendment Institute defends the freedoms of speech and the press in the digital age through strategic litigation, research, policy advocacy, and public education. It promotes a system of free expression that is open and inclusive, that broadens and elevates public discourse, and that fosters creativity, accountability, and effective self-government. www.knightcolumbia.org
About Protect Democracy
Protect Democracy is a cross-ideological nonprofit group dedicated to defeating the authoritarian threat. Its experts use litigation, advocacy, research, and technology to stop the consolidation of power, defend dissent, protect elections, and build a thriving, multiparty democracy. www.protectdemocracy.org