Why is Trump demanding travellers’ social media handles; how will it work?

The United States is readying to necessitate immoderate visitors to supply their social media history from the past 5 years, according to US President Donald Trump’s administration.

This request volition use to visitors who bash not request a visa to participate the US.

Here is simply a person look astatine this proposal:

What is the US readying to do?

The connection was announced connected the Federal Register by the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) connected Wednesday. It volition alteration officials to cod up to 5 years of societal media past from travellers from definite visa-waiver countries earlier they tin participate the country.

The connection states that this mandatory societal media past disclosure is successful enactment with Executive Order 14161, signed by Trump successful January 2025.

That order, titled “Protecting the United States from overseas terrorists and different nationalist information and nationalist information threats”, required US authorities agencies to summation their vetting of overseas nationals entering the country.

Who would this affect?

The request volition use to travellers utilizing the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) nether the US’s Visa Waiver Program.

The Visa Waiver Program permits citizens of 42 countries – including the United Kingdom, Germany, Qatar, Greece, Malta, New Zealand, Australia, Japan, Israel and South Korea – to question to the US for tourism oregon concern purposes for up to 90 days.

At present, the ESTA automatically screens applicants and grants question support without requiring an in-person interrogation astatine a US embassy oregon consulate, dissimilar modular visa applications. Applicants are required to supply a much constricted acceptable of information, specified arsenic their parents’ names, existent email code and details of immoderate past transgression record.

Since 2016, the ESTA has included an optional question asking travellers to disclose their societal media information.

How would this work?

Once the connection comes into effect, visitors volition beryllium required to supply CBP with a database of their societal media handles oregon usernames utilized implicit the past 5 years.

The visitors would not person to springiness CBP their societal media log‑in credentials oregon passwords. They volition usage this accusation to reappraisal the publically accessible accusation connected the societal media profiles of these visitors.

The caller announcement besides states that travellers volition person to supply further idiosyncratic information, including each telephone numbers utilized implicit the past 5 years and email addresses utilized implicit the erstwhile 10 years.

Authorities besides said they program to adhd what are described arsenic “high-value information fields” to the ESTA exertion “when feasible”. These volition see metadata from electronically submitted photographs, extended idiosyncratic details astir applicants’ household members, specified arsenic their places of commencement and telephone numbers utilized implicit the past 5 years, arsenic good arsenic biometric information, including fingerprints, DNA and iris data.

The announcement did not see accusation astir what the medication volition beryllium looking for wrong societal media accounts of visitors oregon wherefore it is asking for that information.

It is unclear erstwhile the connection volition instrumentality effect. However, the nationalist present has 60 days to taxable comments astir the projected changes earlier they are finalised, the announcement successful the Federal Register states.

Why is the US authorities doing this now?

Travellers from non-Visa Waiver Program countries person been required to disclose their societal media handles since 2019. This is an hold of that.

That measurement was archetypal introduced by the Trump medication during his archetypal word arsenic president, and was kept successful spot during President Joe Biden’s tenure.

The CBP and US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) person been seeking to importantly broaden the existing societal media disclosure rules for immoderate time.

“USCIS has projected to widen the societal media disclosure request to applicants for different migration benefits arsenic good – up done naturalisation,” Caroline DeCell, a elder unit lawyer and legislative advisor astatine Columbia University’s Knight First Amendment Institute, told Al Jazeera.

In June this year, the State Department besides announced that it present requires each F, M and J visa applicants to marque their societal media profiles nationalist arsenic portion of enhanced screening to place nationalist information threats.

Most societal media platforms let users to either support their profiles backstage oregon marque them public.

Private profiles tin lone beryllium viewed by radical actively added arsenic friends – this includes each posts, photos, videos oregon different contented posted by the illustration user. Content posted connected nationalist profiles tin beryllium viewed by anyone.

This relates to pupil visas for those enrolled successful accredited colleges, oregon successful vocational oregon technical, non‑academic acquisition programmes. It besides covers speech visitors participating successful approved speech survey programmes.

“A US visa is simply a privilege, not a right,” the State Department connection from June said.

What are the privateness implications of this?

DeCell said that if the CBP connection is approved, the privateness implications would beryllium “significant” arsenic it volition necessitate disclosure not lone of societal media handles, but besides of each telephone numbers utilized successful the past 5 years and email addresses utilized successful the past 10 years, arsenic good arsenic biometric data.

“Even travellers who station publically connected societal media typically support immoderate anticipation of obscurity, if not privacy, online. And those who usage pseudonymous societal media handles oregon email addresses would beryllium straight deprived of their online anonymity,” she said.

DeCell added that if the USCIS connection to question this accusation for each migration visa and citizenship applicants is besides approved, too the CBP connection for travellers from visa waiver countries, “then astir each non-US national who seeks to participate oregon stay successful the United States would beryllium taxable to indefinite societal media surveillance by the US government”.

Under the USCIS proposal, US citizens who petition successful enactment of their relatives’ migration applications would besides beryllium subjected to this “surveillance”.

What are the implications for state of speech?

The First Amendment to the US Constitution guarantees the state of religion, speech, the property and peaceful assembly.

However, DeCell warned that this expanding strategy volition deter escaped code online and galore foreigners volition beryllium enactment disconnected from travelling to the US, whether for enactment oregon leisure.

“It’s a monolithic stroke to First Amendment freedoms,” she said.