The U.S. government has proposed widening social-media checks for visitors, asking travellers from visa-waiver countries to disclose up to five years of social-media history as part of a revamp of the Electronic System for Travel Authorisation (ESTA), officials and news outlets reported Wednesday.
The measure, advanced by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, would extend rules already in place for many visa applicants to tens of millions of short-term visitors who now use ESTA instead of applying for a visa.
The proposal would also require applicants to list past phone numbers, email addresses and social-media handles, and could push ESTA applications onto a mobile app rather than the current website.
Officials said the change is aimed at strengthening vetting and national security. The rule is published for public comment and would not take effect until the 60-day notice period closes and regulators consider feedback.
Civil-liberties groups, immigration lawyers and travel industry officials warned the plan could chill travel and free expression, and complicate rapid ESTA processing.
“This would deter ordinary travellers and could have a chilling effect on speech,” one critic said, while lawyers cautioned that adding social-media reviews could slow approvals and discourage tourism and business travel.
Experts have pointed out that past government pilots produced mixed evidence about the security benefits of broad social-media screening; some oversight reports found agencies had not demonstrated clear improvements from earlier programs.
Observers have pointed out that any final rule will need to balance security aims with privacy, legal and diplomatic concerns — and could reshape how people plan travel to the United States.
