Unions sue Trump administration over social media 'surveillance'

Three unions represented by the Electronic Frontier Foundation sued the Trump administration over a program that searches social media posts of visa holders.

Three labor unions represented by the Electronic Frontier Foundation sued the Trump administration on Thursday over a program that is searching the social media posts of visa holders, arguing that the practice violates the First Amendment rights of people legally in the United States.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in New York, asks a judge to block the administration from engaging in “viewpoint-based investigation and surveillance.” It also asks for a court order to purge any records created so far under the administration’s program.

The Trump administration has said it is scouring social media for posts that it deems hostile or threatening and then using that information as a basis to revoke some people’s visas. President Donald Trump announced the basis for the policy in January in an executive order targeting noncitizens in the country who “bear hostile attitudes” or support “threats to our national security,” and the Department of Homeland Security in April said it was screening foreign nationals’ social media activity for antisemitism.

White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller said in July that there are administration officials “working continuously” to revoke the visas of foreigners who “espouse hatred for America or its people.” And in a thread on X this week, the State Department highlighted six examples of visas it said it had revoked from foreign nationals for celebrating the shooting death last month of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

There are more than 55 million people who have valid U.S. visas, including those for tourism, studying or work, according to The Associated Press, putting a huge swath of the population under potential social media monitoring.