The administration of US President Donald Trump intends to start collecting data on social media activity from nearly everyone who applies for a US visa
As reported by BBC citing The Hill, the new rules took effect on May 31. "Collecting additional information from applicants will improve the process of their verification and confirmation of their identity," a State Department representative said.
"We are constantly working on mechanisms to improve our screening procedures to protect US citizens," the department said in a statement. "At the same time, we support legitimate travel to the United States."
The innovation will affect most categories of visas – tourist, student, and work visas. The State Department has made exceptions for diplomatic visas and official delegations – applicants in these categories will not have to report their social media pages. The new rules will affect approximately 14.7 million people per year.
According to State Department regulations, applicants will have to provide data on their social media accounts, email addresses, and phone numbers for the past five years.
Until June, when applying for a visa, only a phone number and email address were required. At the same time, previously this data allowed any user to find a person's accounts on some social networks, if they existed – for example, on Facebook. In the case of the American social network, one only had to enter a phone number or email into the search bar, and the network would display accounts linked to them.
Previously, only applicants who were subject to additional screening were required to provide their social media data to US authorities. This applied to those who had visited regions controlled by terrorist groups.
The Hill, citing a State Department representative, writes that the application allows the applicant to indicate that they do not use social networks, but if this turns out to be false, they will face "serious consequences." The State Department explained the new measures as necessary to "identify terrorists, public safety threats, and other dangerous individuals" in order to keep them out of the country.
In 2015, the administration of then-US President Barack Obama was criticized for overly lax screening of US visa applicants. It then emerged that Tashfeen Malik, a Pakistani-born woman who was an accomplice in the 2015 mass shooting in San Bernardino, California, which killed 14 people, had posted messages in support of terrorists on her social networks. When issuing her visa, US authorities did not pay attention to this.
The American Civil Liberties Union has already stated that "there is no evidence that such social media monitoring is effective or fair," and noted that it will force people to self-censor online.
The tightening of visa requirements fits into the overall framework of the White House's immigration policy. US President Donald Trump is known as a fighter against illegal immigration. On May 30, he promised to increase tariffs on goods imported from Mexico until the country's authorities solve the problem of illegal migrants. Earlier, on February 15, he declared a national emergency in the United States over the situation on the southern border, in order to bypass Congress and obtain funds for building a wall on the US-Mexico border.