{
  "id": "R-0769",
  "title": "\"Catch and Revoke\" AI social media surveillance program targeting international student visa holders, United States, 2025",
  "short_title": "AI-assisted social-media screening used to revoke student visas",
  "jurisdiction": {
    "country": "United States",
    "region": null,
    "level": "national"
  },
  "domain": "immigration",
  "system_type": "other",
  "system_name": "Catch and Revoke",
  "deployed_by": "U.S. Department of State, Department of Homeland Security, Department of Justice (Trump Administration)",
  "year_start": 2025,
  "year_end": null,
  "harm_type": "mixed",
  "subject_count_estimate": 1600,
  "subject_identification": "anonymous_collective",
  "oversight_trigger": "journalism",
  "oversight_date": "2025-04-25",
  "remedy_status": "none",
  "documentation_status": "verified",
  "summary_50w": "In 2025 US federal agencies used AI-assisted tools to screen the public social-media accounts of international students under a programme known as 'Catch and Revoke'. More than 1,600 student visas were revoked. Civil-society organisations, including EFF, argued that revocations targeted political speech and raised free-speech and due-process concerns.",
  "sources": [
    {
      "type": "other",
      "title": "Trump Administration’s Targeting of International Students Jeopardizes Free Speech and Privacy Online",
      "url": "https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/04/trump-administrations-targeting-international-students-jeopardizes-free-speech-and",
      "publisher": "Electronic Frontier Foundation",
      "date": null,
      "access_date": "2026-04-15",
      "is_primary": false,
      "notes": "Originating report"
    },
    {
      "type": "other",
      "title": "DHS to Begin Screening Aliens’ Social Media Activity for Antisemitism | USCIS",
      "url": "https://www.uscis.gov/newsroom/news-releases/dhs-to-begin-screening-aliens-social-media-activity-for-antisemitism",
      "publisher": "USCIS",
      "date": null,
      "access_date": "2026-04-16",
      "is_primary": true
    },
    {
      "type": "other",
      "title": "The AI Tools CBP Is Using to Scan Social Media",
      "url": "https://www.404media.co/the-ai-tools-cbp-is-using-to-scan-social-media/",
      "publisher": "404 Media",
      "date": null,
      "access_date": "2026-04-16",
      "is_primary": false
    },
    {
      "type": "other",
      "title": "US to revoke student visas over ‘pro-Hamas’ social media posts flagged by AI – report | US news | The Guardian",
      "url": "https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/06/foreign-student-visas-pro-palestinian-ai",
      "publisher": "the Guardian",
      "date": null,
      "access_date": "2026-04-16",
      "is_primary": false
    },
    {
      "type": "other",
      "title": "The New York Times — Columbia University and the Trump administration protests (2025-03-12)",
      "url": "https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/12/nyregion/columbia-university-trump-protests.html",
      "publisher": "The New York Times",
      "date": null,
      "access_date": "2026-04-16",
      "is_primary": false
    },
    {
      "type": "other",
      "title": "The New York Times — Student visas and social media (2025-04-01)",
      "url": "https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/01/us/politics/student-visas-social-media.html",
      "publisher": "The New York Times",
      "date": null,
      "access_date": "2026-04-16",
      "is_primary": false
    },
    {
      "type": "other",
      "title": "Reuters — Trump administration orders Gaza-linked social-media vetting of visa applicants (2025-04-17)",
      "url": "https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-administration-orders-gaza-linked-social-media-vetting-visa-applicants-2025-04-17/",
      "publisher": "Reuters",
      "date": null,
      "access_date": "2026-04-16",
      "is_primary": false
    },
    {
      "type": "other",
      "title": "US immigration officials look to expand social media data collection | AP News",
      "url": "https://apnews.com/article/social-media-immigration-applicants-handles-dhs-f67b480abebff7e451056be17572593d",
      "publisher": "AP News",
      "date": null,
      "access_date": "2026-04-16",
      "is_primary": false
    },
    {
      "type": "other",
      "title": "You Shouldn’t Have to Make Your Social Media Public to Get a Visa",
      "url": "https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/07/you-shouldnt-have-make-your-social-media-public-get-visa",
      "publisher": "Electronic Frontier Foundation",
      "date": null,
      "access_date": "2026-10-10",
      "is_primary": false
    },
    {
      "type": "other",
      "title": "No One Should Be Forced to Conform to the Views of the State",
      "url": "https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/10/no-one-should-be-forced-conform-views-state",
      "publisher": "Electronic Frontier Foundation",
      "date": null,
      "access_date": "2026-10-10",
      "is_primary": false
    }
  ],
  "tags": [
    "immigration_enforcement",
    "social_media_surveillance",
    "first_amendment",
    "visa_revocation",
    "ai_surveillance",
    "chilling_effect",
    "political_speech",
    "cross_agency_program",
    "student_visa",
    "ongoing_litigation"
  ],
  "extraction_metadata": {
    "first_collected": "2026-04-15T17:04:36.438544+00:00",
    "last_verified": "2026-04-18T11:06:45.814679+00:00",
    "verified_by": "human_review"
  }
}