&imwidth=800&imheight=600&format=webp&quality=medium "US plans to seek five-year social media history of foreign tourists before entry")
Foreign tourists from dozens of countries, including the United Kingdom, could be asked to provide a five-year social media history as a condition for entry into the United States under a new proposal unveiled by American officials. Travellers from 42 countries eligible for the visa waiver programme would be impacted by the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) proposal that aims to collect “baseline biographic data” through several “high value data fields.” Besides social media information, the new document also seeks the applicant’s telephone numbers and email addresses used over the last five and 10 years, respectively, and more information about their family members.
“In order to comply with the January 2025 Executive Order 14161 (Protecting the United States From Foreign Terrorists and Other National Security and Public Safety Threats), CBP is adding social media as a mandatory data element for an [Electronic System for Travel Authorization] ESTA application,” the federal register announcement read.
“The data element will require ESTA applicants to provide their social media from the last 5 years,” it added. The new condition would affect people from countries eligible to visit the US for 90 days without a visa.
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Since returning to the White House in January, President Donald Trump has been taking actions to toughen US borders, citing national security as a key reason.
The US expects a major influx of foreign tourists next year, as it hosts the men’s football World Cup alongside Canada and Mexico, and for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
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The proposal document was filed by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), of which the agency is part. US media reported that it appeared in the Federal Register, which is the official journal of the US government.
The proposal says, “The data element will require ESTA applicants to provide their social media from the last 5 years, without giving further details of which specific information will be required.”
The existing ESTA requires a comparatively limited amount of information from travellers, as well as a one-off payment of $40, and allows them to visit the US multiple times during a two-year period.
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The text cites an executive order from Trump in January, titled “Protecting the United States From Foreign Terrorists and Other National Security and Public Safety Threats”.
The Trump administration has previously required foreign nationals to make their social media accounts public if they are applying for student visas or H1B visas for skilled workers.
As part of the administration's broader effort to toughen borders, officials recently said an existing travel ban affecting 19 countries in Africa, the Middle East, and the Caribbean could soon be expanded.
That move was announced in the wake of a shooting attack on two National Guard members in Washington, DC, in which an Afghan man has been named as the suspect.
