The Trump administration is proposing to ask visitors from several dozen nations that enjoy visa-free travel to the U.S. to submit additional personal information before entering the country, including five years of their social media history, the Department of Homeland Security said in a notice this week.
Citizens of 42 countries enrolled in the visa waiver program can generally come to the U.S. for up to 90 days for tourism or business travel, without needing to apply for a visa at an American embassy or consulate, a process that can take months or even years.
The list of countries in the visa waiver program includes many European nations like the United Kingdom, Germany and France, as well as some U.S. allies around the world, including Australia, Israel, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea.
And how exactly do they enforce this? I’m just curious, like you get off the plane, walk to customs and immigration, and they say you need to hand over your phone?
They are revamping ESTA. Currently, many countries citizens do not need a visa, but must get the electronic ESTA, to travel to the US. You can’t just walk off a plane and gain entry, you must have prior approval. They are going to try to check everyone through some AI bullshit and make it hard or scary to even come to the states, denying you entry before you even get on the plane. This just fits right in with making America a bigger shithole and destroying it.
Yes, they already do that. That said, if you have good op-sec, you’re not going to have your social media on your phone. At least, not your real social media, or if you do, you’ll have it behind a password they can’t break and that you’re not going to give them, so this is not really about getting into everyone’s social media per se, it’s more about providing them more excuses to detain people they don’t like, increasing surveillance of people who they know are probably not really doing anything wrong to begin with, and the chilling effect that surveillance provides in controlling those people who are not really doing anything wrong.
I’ve been through customs and immigration and I’ve never saw them ask for anyone’s phone before. That said, no one knows what they’ll do anymore, maybe just shoot us in the face 🤔
I know people who have had to give them the phone. It doesn’t happen every time, it doesn’t happen to everyone, it doesn’t happen often, but it definitely does happen, and from what I understand, they can refuse you entry if you do not. I’m not in a position to say how common or widespread it is, but there are enough anecdotal stories to convince me it’s probably decently widespread, albeit occasional and possibly targeted. Like you said though, no one knows what they’ll do anymore, maybe just shoot you in the face. And that’s kind of the point. They want that environment of uncertainty and not knowing when the bullet is going to come for you.