Tourists travelling to the United States, including millions of football fans set to descend on the country next year, could be forced to provide five years worth of social media activity in order to pass border control.
There are certain countries that will need to undergo a vigorous visa process in order to travel to the tournament but for other countries, such as the United Kingdom, only an Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) form will be required, which costs around $40.
What was once a simple process has now been made more complicated after it was announced that visitors will need to provide social media history if they want to enter the USA.
The Donald Trump administration says this has been implemented for national security reasons.
One of Trump’s major policies since being re-elected was to toughen up their borders and limit the amount of people entering the country.
When asked this week whether the plans could result in a major drop in tourism, he responded to reporters:
“No. We’re doing so well. We just want people to come over here, and safe. We want safety. We want security. We want to make sure we’re not letting the wrong people come enter our country.”
In addition to social media activity, the new ESTA form will require access to phone numbers, email addresses and details about a visitor’s family.
The text alludes to an executive order from Trump in January, titled “Protecting the United States From Foreign Terrorists and Other National Security and Public Safety Threats”.
The USA and Trump have been accused of censorship by critics.
“The seriousness of this move should not be downplayed,” said Jemimah Steinfeld, the chief executive of Index on Censorship in London.
“Through a simple search any posts critical of Trump and his administration could be revealed and then what? Will admission to the USA be predicated on being nice about the president? That would be censorship pure and simple and the result will extend far beyond as people start to self-censor to keep the door to the USA open to them.”
The Big Brother Watch campaign group accused Trump of taking away civil liberties.
“The US government would each year have access to millions of years’ worth of social media content, the vast majority of which includes speech that is legal in the United States,” said Matthew Feeney, the group’s advocacy manager.
“This would encourage millions of law-abiding people, including many American citizens, to self-censor criticism of the US government. So much for the Trump administration’s commitment to free speech.”
