U.S. wants to mandate social media checks for tourists
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A video of Secretary Kristi Noem speaking about on Real-ID requirements plays near a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) checkpoint at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on Nov. 26. Photo: Aaron Schwartz/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Foreign tourists from dozens of countries that typically enjoy easier entry requirements may soon have to provide five years of their social media history when entering the U.S., according to a U.S. Customs and Border Protection notice published Wednesday.
The big picture: The Trump administration has erected new barriers to legally immigrating and obtaining visas — but this plan, published to the Federal Register, targets tourists who generally don't need a traditional visa to enter the U.S.
Driving the news: The proposed plan for tourists cited a day-one executive order from President Trump that called for vetting "to the maximum degree possible."
- The proposal states that CBP will add social media as a mandatory data element for those filing an Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) application.
Context: The Visa Waiver Program allows citizens and nationals from dozens of countries — including Australia, Israel, Qatar, Spain and the United Kingdom — to travel to the U.S. without a visa.
- Those travelers, however, must have an approved ESTA application. The authorization fee costs $40, and applications are generally valid for a period of two years.
- Under the proposed plan, ESTA applicants will now have to provide their social media from the last five years.
Flashback: This proposal follows a similar policy from July regarding foreign students.
- The State Department said in June that applicants for certain visas in would be instructed to set their social media profiles to the public setting in order to facilitate "a comprehensive and thorough vetting."
- The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), a digital rights group, blasted that requirement, arguing it forced students to "abandon basic privacy hygiene" and exposed them to "identity thieves … and other third parties" by making their private lives accessible to anyone with an internet connection.
Zoom out: It also says that CBP will add several "high value data fields" to the application, "when feasible," in addition to information already collected in the ESTA application.
- The proposal lists things like telephone numbers used in the last five years, IP addresses and metadata from electronically submitted photos, email addresses used in the last ten years and biometric information (face, fingerprint, DNA, and iris).
- The CBP will also mandate all applicants use a mobile app that will take their selfie.
- According to CBP, DHS previously added an optional question about social media information to ESTA, but if an applicant didn't answer it, they could still submit "without a negative interpretation or inference."
What they're saying: EFF senior staff attorney Sophia Cope said in a statement to Axios that efforts to "use social media surveillance against non-citizens" have "chilled the free speech and invaded the privacy of innocent travelers, along with that of their American family, friends, and colleagues."
- Cope added that the proposal could "exacerbate civil liberties harms, especially if it comes with the same expectation the government has for student visa applicants - that they must make public otherwise private social media accounts."
- Sarah McLaughlin, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression's senior scholar for global expression, said in a statement that those who "hope to experience the wonders" of the U.S. "should not have to fear that self-censorship is a condition of entry."
- The proposed change will "send the message that the American commitment to free speech is pretense, not practice," McLaughlin said. "This is not the behavior of a country confident in its freedoms."
State of play: The plan is set to be open for a 60-day period for public comment.
Go deeper: Noem reveals sweeping travel ban plan after meeting with Trump
Editor's note: This story has been updated with additional comments.
