Irina Park
On March 6, Axios reported that the U.S. State Department is launching the “Catch and Revoke” AI-powered program in an effort to cancel the visas of foreign nationals who support Hamas or other “designated terror groups” according to a senior State Department official. It includes AI-assisted reviews of the social media accounts of student visa holders that are looking for evidence of “sympathies” expressed after October 7, 2023, as well as news reports, protest footage, lawsuits, and internal databases to see if any visa holders were arrested.
As with the recent arrest of Mahmoud Khalil by the Department of Homeland Security, the “support” cited by the State Department for Hamas or other national resistance organizations is not the already-illegal material or financial support for a state-designated “terrorist organization”, but rather political and moral activity in defense of the oppressed nations’ right to resistance and against imperialist aggression.
Abed Ayoub, head of the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, said the program is like Operation Boulder of 1972, in which the Nixon administration surveilled pro-Palestinian groups. Advocates say the program reflects repression and surveillance of anti-war and Muslim activists, like that of the Patriot Act.
In February, ICE looked to hire contractors to monitor social media for threats and criticisms. If monitoring social media uncovers anything ICE deems suspicious or threatening, contractors will investigate social media users’ backgrounds, potentially providing ICE with possible photographs, legal name, date of birth, city, work, school or university affiliation, and family members or associates.
Activists and members of the Palestine Solidarity Movement should be aware that social media platforms controlled and monitored by corporations with ties to imperialism are using AI-powered surveillance to suppress movements that resist oppression, in combination with far-right Zionist groups like Betar trawling social media for names to pass to the State Department. Accounts can be shut down without warning and personal data can be exploited to undermine organization and activism. To protect yourself and your movements, consider erasing or carefully curating your online presence, especially on social media. Do not talk to the police or their collaborators. Seek offline organizing and alternative platforms of communication. Strengthen your digital security, and rely on organization and solidarity as the best weapons against surveillance and censorship while resisting imperialism.
Image: Secretary of State Rubio meets with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu in Jerusalem, February 2025. Wikipedia, US Department of the State
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