U.S. Customs and Border Protection is proposing to start collecting foreign travelers’ social media names and handles. 

The new field in certain customs forms would read, “Please enter information associated with your online presence—Provider/Platform—Social media identified.” It would be optional to fill out, and would appear for people not required to have a visa to travel in and out of the U.S., according to a post on Slate. The proposal by CBP was first spotted by The Hill, though.

Citizens of 38 countries, such as Denmark and Switzerland, can stay in the U.S. for 90 days without applying for a visa.

“Collecting social media data will enhance the existing investigative process and provide [the Department of Homeland Security] greater clarity and visibility to possible nefarious activity and connections by providing an additional tool set which analysts and investigators may use to better analyze and investigate the case,” CBP says.

The proposal launched on June 20 and is open to public comment until Aug. 22.

This article appears in Jun 23-29, 2016.

I was born and raised in Guatemala City, Guatemala. I moved to Tucson about 10 years ago. Since I was old enough to enjoy reading, I developed an interest in writing, and telling stories through different...

3 replies on “Customs and Border Protection Wants to Collect Foreign Travelers’ Social Media Info”

  1. This is exactly why we can’t trust a government that wants a “do not buy list” for guns. How many of you have something on facebook that law enforcement, or political parties/bureaucrats might take exception to? Our inability to fight a war has caused our government to distrust everyone. But they continue to promise us safety.

    Ask Orlando how that worked out.

  2. Nice idea, but… The FBI was criticized for not checking some of the Orlando Muslim terrorist’s social media sites. But I assume that the bad guys will get a bit smarter about what they admit to on social media ( this system counts on self reporting). The Caliphite will instruct its bombers-to-be to post a ” I love Hillary” message on Facebook while putting their real message in some sort of dark site read by fellow killers. The real answer seems to be infiltrating the mosques where these thugs congregate . Read the stories about the trial of the ” Minnesota Men” …Somalis from the Twin Cities who wanted to go to The Islamic State and kill Americans. All the planning was done at a St Paul mosque. Luckily for us, their next meeting place is Federal Prison.

Comments are closed.