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International students cleanse social media

International students are scrubbing their social media or in some case reevaluating their decision to study in the U.S. amid new visa screenings.

© Jose Luis Magana, Associated Press

Companies that specialize in mass deletions of posts have seen an uptick in services since the Department of Homeland Security’s announcement.

But clearing out everything the administration finds controversial could raise other alarms, leaving foreign students in a bind.

“I think students have pretty much assumed that anything is open for interpretation or misinterpretation, and so as a result, they’re extremely cautious when it comes to engaging with social media moving forward,” said Fanta Aw, executive director and CEO of the Association of International Educators.

The new screenings were announced in June after a three-week pause on visa interviews to update the policy, part of President Trump’s broader crackdown on both legal and illegal immigration.

The State Department said it would target those “who pose a threat to U.S. national security,” without specifying what that would entail, and demanded anyone applying for a student visa make their social media accounts public.

The go-to response from students appears to be cleansing their social media of anything even remotely controversial.

Dan Saltman, CEO and founder of

© The Hill