U.S. to inspect tourists social media history from past 5 years

The United States is planning to impose social media controls on some tourists as President Donald Trump continues to increase travel restrictions on foreign visitors.

Tourists from the UK, Australia, France and Japan will be required to provide five years of social media history as part of their application to visit the US. don’t notice It was released by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) on Wednesday. The proposal, which has a 60-day notice request for public comment, is not final and may see some revisions.

Tourists from countries participating in the US Visa Waiver Program can apply through the Electronic System for Travel and Authorization (ESTA) to visit the country for 90 days or less for a fee of US$40. Social media control will now form a “mandatory data element” as part of the ESTA application.

The border force said it would also collect “several high-value data fields”, including applicants’ email addresses from the last 10 years, phone numbers they have used in the last five years, and names and details of family members.

In addition to social media checks, applicants will also be expected to upload “selfies,” which CBP says will improve screening processes and better determine whether a person is the rightful owner of the documents used to secure ESTA authorization.

The plan is the next tier of a series of measures Trump has implemented in recent months to restrict the movement of foreign travelers after an Afghan man was accused of shooting two National Guard members near the White House.

The president had said he would tighten immigration rules, including “permanently” pausing all immigration from “third world countries”, while blaming his predecessor Joe Biden for admitting “millions” of people.

More recently, the Trump administration said it would expand the travel ban first announced in June, which previously blocked travel to the United States from 12 countries and restricted access from seven others, to more than 30 countries. Some of the countries included are Afghanistan, Somalia, Iran and Haiti.

“If they don’t have a stable government there, if they don’t have a country that can sustain them, that can tell us who these individuals are and help us study them, why should we allow people from that country to come here to the United States?” That’s what then-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has not yet responded to CNBC’s request for comment.