"According to a Tuesday report in the New York Times, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) this week filed a new proposal that would force visitors to submit up to five years' worth of social media posts for inspection before being allowed to enter the country. In addition to social media history, CPB says it plans to ask prospective tourists to provide them with email addresses they've used over the last decade, as well as "the names, birth dates, places of residence, and birthplaces of parents, spouses, siblings, and children.""
"Cope added that such policies have "not proven effective at finding terrorists and other bad guys" but have instead "chilled the free speech and invaded the privacy of innocent travelers, along with that of their American family, friends and colleagues." Journalist Bethany Allen, head of China investigations at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, expressed shock that the US would take such drastic measures to scrutinize the social media posts of tourists. "Wow," she wrote in a post on X, "even China doesn't do this.""
US Customs and Border Protection filed a proposal to require visitors to submit up to five years of social media posts, email addresses used over the past decade, and detailed information about parents, spouses, siblings, and children. The proposal would apply even to citizens of visa-waiver allied countries such as the UK, Germany, Australia, and Japan. Civil liberties advocates warn the measures would exacerbate privacy invasions, chill free speech, and have not proven effective at detecting terrorists. Journalists and tourism-dependent businesses expressed shock and concern about the policy's potential industry and rights impacts.
Read at Truthout
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