Tourists travelling to the United States may soon face significantly expanded screening measures under a new proposal by US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) that would require visitors to submit their social media history from the past five years prior to entry.
According to the proposal, travellers would be asked to provide social media identifiers alongside personal contact details such as email addresses and phone numbers.
The information request would also extend to immediate family members, including names, addresses and dates of birth. In addition, CBP may collect recent photographs and biometric identifiers, including fingerprints and iris scans, as part of the screening process.
The proposed measures have raised concerns that entry procedures at US airports and border crossings could become more time-consuming, potentially leading to longer queues and delays.
Many travellers have expressed unease over the scope of data collection, warning that the expanded checks could amount to excessive surveillance and pose risks to personal privacy.
Privacy advocates and civil liberties groups have criticised the proposal, arguing that it could infringe on free expression without delivering meaningful security benefits. The Electronic Frontier Foundation described the plan as an invasion of privacy that could unfairly expose the personal views and associations of travellers and their families.
Critics have also questioned the effectiveness of the policy, noting that social media history can be easily altered or concealed. Travellers could delete old posts, restrict account visibility, or create secondary profiles, undermining the reliability of such screening.
The proposal is currently open for public consultation for 60 days, during which stakeholders and members of the public can submit feedback. The debate highlights a growing global tension between border security and digital privacy, as governments increasingly seek access to personal online data in the name of national security.
