US may tie social media to visa applications
The Trump administration has said it
wants to start collecting the social media history of nearly everyone
seeking a visa to enter the US.
The proposal, which comes from the
state department, would require most visa applicants to give details of
their Facebook and Twitter accounts.
They would have to disclose all social media identities used in the past five years.
About 14.7 million people a year would be affected by the proposals.
The information would be used to identify and vet those seeking both immigrant and non-immigrant visas.
Applicants
would also be asked for five years of their telephone numbers, email
addresses and travel history. They would be required to say if they had
ever been deported from a country, or if any relatives had been involved
in terrorist activity.
The proposal would not affect citizens from countries which the US
grants visa-free travel status - among them the UK, Canada, France and
Germany. However, citizens from non-exempt countries like India, China
and Mexico could be embroiled if they visit the US for work or a
holiday.
What's the current stance on requesting social media?
Under
rules brought in last May, officials were told to seek people's social
media handles only if they felt "that such information is required to
confirm identity or conduct more rigorous national security vetting", a
state department official said at the time.
The tougher proposal comes after President Trump promised to implement "extreme vetting" for foreigners entering the US, which he said was to combat terrorism.
"Maintaining
robust screening standards for visa applicants is a dynamic practice
that must adapt to emerging threats," the state department said in a
statement, quoted by the New York Times.
"We already request
limited contact information, travel history, family member information,
and previous addresses from all visa applicants. Collecting this
additional information from visa applicants will strengthen our process
for vetting these applicants and confirming their identity."
Who decides if it happens?
The idea is subject to approval by the Office of Management and Budget.
The public will have two months to comment on the proposal before it makes a decision.
How does this affect free speech?
Civil liberties groups have condemned the policy as an invasion of privacy that could damage free speech.
"People
will now have to wonder if what they say online will be misconstrued or
misunderstood by a government official," said Hina Shamsi of the
American Civil Liberties Union.
"We're also concerned about how
the Trump administration defines the vague and over-broad term
'terrorist activities' because it is inherently political and can be
used to discriminate against immigrants who have done nothing wrong,"
she said.
The social media platforms covered in the proposal include US-based entities such as Instagram, LinkedIn, Reddit and YouTube. However,
the New York Times reports that overseas platforms such as China's Sina
Weibo and Russia's VK social network would also be included.
BBC
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