Trump ramps up tourist checks with plans for mandatory social media inspections

Football fans heading for the 2026 World Cup, as well as other British travellers planning visits to the US, will soon have to provide details of their social media activity going back five years.

The demand is included in a new document from the Department of Homeland Security setting out how it plans to comply with Donald Trump’s demand that foreign visitors should be “vetted and screened to the maximum degree possible”.

At present, the application form for the electronic system for travel authorisation (Esta) invites prospective visitors to reveal their social media accounts, but this is not mandatory. The permit costs $40 (£30) and allows stays of up to 90 days within two years.

US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials have the option to inspect phones belonging to arriving travellers. According to reports, some tourists have been turned away for making unfavourable comments about Donald Trump and vice president JD Vance.

Soon an applicant’s social media activity could be screened in advance, with officials deciding whether or not to issue an Esta to the traveller.

In the document, to be published in the Federal Register on Wednesday 10 December, US Customs and Border Protection says: “CBP is adding social media as a mandatory data element for an Esta application.

“The data element will require Esta applicants to provide their social media from the last five years.”

Officials are seeking comments from organisations and individuals on the plan.

A leading travel industry figure has deplored the demand. Julia Lo Bue-Said, chief executive of the Advantage Travel Partnership, said: “These barriers will hit UK travel to the USA hard. History shows us that when a destination becomes harder to reach, British holidaymakers simply go elsewhere.

“Right now, US bookings are up 20 per cent across our membership, driven by events like the football World Cup, but new obstacles could quickly reverse that trend.”

Other proposals in the document include a plan to end applications via the Esta website – requiring all applicants to use the app instead.

The document says: “CBP believes that moving to a mobile-only approach for Esta submissions will both enhance security and improve efficiency.

“Poor-quality image uploads to the Esta website have resulted in applicants bypassing the facial comparison screening.

“CBP believes that travellers are aware of this vulnerability and have begun to exploit it by purposely uploading poor-quality images to avoid detection.

"Additionally, CBP continues to struggle with fraudulent third-party websites. Third-party fraudulent websites charge travellers exorbitant fees to process an application, where many of these applications may never be processed by CBP, resulting in a traveller being unable to board a US-bound plane.”

In addition, the authorities propose a new system to confirm that short-term visitors have left the country – should their departure not be reported through the normal channels such as airline data.

The plan is: “CBP will use geolocation services to confirm that the traveller reporting their departure is outside the United States, as well as run ‘liveness detection’ software to determine that the selfie photo is a live photo.”

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