The United States could soon ask tourists from foreign countries to show 5-year-old social media history while entering the country.
According to a notice published in the US Federal register, foreign tourists to provide personal information to the department of homeland security. US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is proposing to collect up to five years of social media data from travellers from certain visa-waiver countries.
The CBP said that the order is compliant with President Donald Trump’s executive order from January 2025, calling for more screening of of people coming to the US to prevent the entry of possible national security threats.
The proposed requirement would apply to travellers using the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) under the Visa Waiver Program, which allows citizens of 42 countries, some of which are United Kingdom, Germany, Qatar, Greece, Malta, New Zealand, Australia, Japan, Israel and South Korea , to travel to the US for tourism or business for up to 90 days.
Currently, the ESTA automatically screens applicants and grants travel approval without requiring an in-person interview at a US embassy or consulate, unlike standard visa applications.
As of now, ESTA applicants are required to provide a more limited set of information, such as their parents’ names, current email address, and details of any past criminal record. A question asking travellers to disclose their social media information was first added to the ESTA application in 2016, though it has remained optional.
The notice further states that also states that the CBP plans to request additional personal information from visitors, including telephone numbers used over the past five years and email addresses used over the last 10 years.
According to a report by Al Jazeera, the US authorities also plan to add “high value data fields to ESTA application “when feasible”. These would include metadata from electronically submitted photographs, extensive personal details about applicants’ family members, such as their places of birth and telephone numbers used over the past five years, as well as biometric information, including fingerprints, DNA and iris data.
The announcement did not say what the administration was looking for in the social media accounts of visitors or why it was asking for more information. The notice did not clarify what exactly the US administration would be checking in the social media history of the tourists.
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