The US government has started asking select foreign visitors to voluntarily disclose their social media presence. Authorities claim that the step was taken to counter terrorism attacks. Currently, the scope of the new program is limited to visitors falling under the visa waiver program.
The new requirement asks visitors to disclose their accounts on various social platforms including Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Google+, and YouTube.
The program was introduced by The Customs and Border Protection last week. Refusal to provide social media account information cannot lead to prohibiting entry to the US. The proposal was first introduced for discussions last summer.
According to the US Federal Register, the collection of such data is for enhancing "the existing investigative process and provide Department of Homeland Security (DHS) 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."
The move has been severely criticized by consumer advocates as well as by the tech companies. The main grievance against the new policy is the loss of privacy of the travelers. However, the US authorities insist that the purpose of this new policy is to "identify potential threats."
The Internet Association, which is a group of leading technology companies, said that the policy poses a danger to free expression. The ACLU had also expressed concerns about the policy stating that it provides an enormous amount of personal information to the government.
The Department of Homeland Security is believed to possess the ability to scan a limited amount of social media posts. It is reported that Custom and Border Protection will have access to only publicly available information of the travelers. The US government approves nearly 10 million visa applications every year.