State Dept. announces new guidelines for vetting student visa applicants' social media

The State Department issued new guidelines Wednesday for more extensive social media vetting of all applicants for international student visas and exchange visitor visas, instructing consular officers to look for signs of "hostility" toward the United States.

Applicants will be asked to set all of their social media accounts to "public," and will be notified that any failure to do so could be seen as evasive.

U.S. officials reviewing applications have been told to look for "any indications of hostility toward the citizens, culture, government, institutions, or founding principles of the United States."