U.S. Customs and Border Protection could soon require certain international visitors to provide five years of their social media history to apply for entry into the U.S.
A document posted to the Federal Register on Wednesday proposes making it mandatory for travelers from countries on the visa waiver program to provide their social media information as part of their application for an Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA). Applicants, it says, will be required to “provide their social media from the last 5 years.”
The proposed change would also require more personal information from ESTA applicants, including phone numbers from the past five years, email addresses from the past 10 years and the names of family members and their phone numbers from the past five years.
There are currently 42 countries on the visa waiver program, including the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Israel and Japan, among other close U.S. allies. Visitors from those countries must receive approval through ESTA to travel to the U.S., and they can stay for up to 90 days without a visa.
According to the document, the additional information would be required to comply with an executive order that President Donald Trump signed in January to increase vetting of international visitors purportedly aimed at “protecting the U.S. from foreign terrorists and other national security and public safety threats.”
The proposal is open to public comment for 60 days. The Trump administration has dramatically increased scrutiny of social media activity for tourists, international students and prospective immigrants over the past year. Such social media surveillance could add to the laundry list of policies that discourage tourism to the U.S. and, according to civil liberties groups, potentially chill free speech and lead to self-censorship.
Clarissa-Jan Lim is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW. She was previously a senior reporter and editor at BuzzFeed News. Recommended
