Federal officials to vet social media accounts of visa applicants heading to Harvard

Federal officials are set to start reviewing the social media accounts of visa applicants who plan to attend, work at or visit Harvard University for any signs of antisemitism, marking the latest development in a clash between the Trump administration and the Ivy League school.

A cable sent Friday signed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and obtained by The Associated Press accused the university of failing to keep violence and antisemitism off campus. It said the vetting measure will help consular officers identify applicants with a history of those offenses “and to duly consider their visa eligibility under U.S. immigration law.”

The measure was sent to all U.S. embassies and consulates, and it takes effect immediately. It will serve as a pilot program that could be expanded more broadly, according to the cable.

Harvard did not immediately respond to an email requesting comment.

The university was the first to openly defy White House demands for changes at elite schools the administration has criticized as hotbeds of liberalism and antisemitism.

Since then, the federal government has stripped the nation’s oldest and wealthiest university of $2.6 billion in federal grants, forcing it to self-fund much of its research operation. President Donald Trump has said he wants to revoke the university of its tax-exempt status.

Last week, Harvard sued the federal government after Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem revoked its ability to host foreign students at its campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts. A federal judge has since blocked the move.

More than a quarter of Harvard’s student body at its Cambridge campus are foreign students. Most are graduate students, coming from more than 100 countries.

Earlier this week, the State Department paused the scheduling of new visa interviews for foreign students looking to study in the U.S., saying it was preparing to expand the screening of their activity on social media. It’s unclear whether that pause has been lifted.

The new measure expands on Trump’s previous administration introducing reviews of visa applicants’ social media accounts. It remained in place during former President Joe Biden’s administration.

The measure instructs officials to note whether a visa applicant does not have an online presence or has their social media accounts set to private and whether that “may be reflective of evasiveness and call into question the applicant’s credibility.”

“If you are not satisfied that the applicant credibility, and to your personal satisfaction, meets the standards required by the visa classification for which he is applying, refuse the applicant,” the cable said.

Officials have also been instructed to go beyond just reviewing social media accounts and to conduct a broader investigation of the person’s online presence, according to the cable.