Tourists from dozens of countries, including the UK, could soon have to hand over five years of social media history in order to enter the United States visa-free, under a new proposal from the Biden–Trump administration.
The plan would apply to travellers using the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA), which people from around 40 Visa Waiver Program countries must complete before they can visit the US for up to 90 days without a visa.
What the US is proposing
The proposal, filed by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and US Customs and Border Protection (CBP), appears in the Federal Register, the official journal of the US government. It would turn social media into a mandatory ESTA data field.
According to the filing, “the data element will require ESTA applicants to provide their social media from the last 5 years,” though it does not spell out exactly which platforms or types of posts would be collected.
The same document goes further than social media. It also proposes gathering:
- Telephone numbers used over the past five years
- Email addresses used over the past 10 years
- More detailed information about family members
At present, ESTA asks for relatively limited biographical and travel details, plus a fee of $40 (£30), and then allows multiple trips during a two-year validity period.
The government says the expansion is rooted in a January executive order titled “Protecting the United States From Foreign Terrorists and Other National Security and Public Safety Threats,” signed shortly after Donald Trump returned to the White House earlier this year. The order instructed agencies to tighten vetting of foreign nationals.
For now, nothing is changing immediately. The draft rule is open for 60 days of public comment, after which DHS and CBP could revise it and move to make it final.
A CBP spokesperson stressed that point, saying: “This is not a final rule, it is simply the first step in starting a discussion to have new policy options to keep the American people safe.”
Trump: security comes first
Since re-entering office in January, President Trump has repeatedly pushed for tougher borders, framing the issue as a matter of national security.
Asked whether demanding years of social media history could deter tourists and hurt the US travel industry, Trump dismissed the concern.
“No. We’re doing so well,” he told reporters on Wednesday.
“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.”
The United States is banking on a surge in visitors over the next few years, particularly for the 2026 men’s football World Cup, which it is co-hosting with Canada and Mexico, and the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
Privacy and processing-time concerns
Digital-rights advocates argue that turning social media into a routine screening tool risks chilling free expression and disproportionately impacting certain groups.
Sophia Cope of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) warned that the policy could “exacerbate civil liberties harms”, saying that travellers may feel forced to self-censor online if they believe posts could be misinterpreted by immigration authorities.
Immigration law firm Fragomen has flagged more practical concerns. With officers suddenly required to sift through years of social media handles, phone numbers and email addresses, the firm says travellers should brace for longer ESTA processing times and more frequent delays or secondary checks.
Social media checks are already spreading
The ESTA proposal doesn’t come out of nowhere. The Trump administration has steadily expanded social-media screening for other types of visas.
The State Department has instructed consular officers to conduct “online presence” reviews for many student visa (F/M/J) applicants and later for H-1B skilled-worker cases, asking them to list the social media platforms and usernames they’ve used in the past five years. Applicants are told that their profiles should be viewable during vetting – effectively encouraging them to make accounts public while their cases are processed.
An announcement on the website of the US Embassy and Consulate in Mexico, for example, advises that many visa applicants must provide all social media identifiers used in the last five years. It warns that failing to list required accounts can lead to visa refusals now and in the future.
A senior State Department official defended the broader social-media screening push, saying: “It is an expectation from American citizens that their government will make every effort to make our country safer, and that is exactly what the Trump Administration is doing every single day.”
Officers are told to be on the lookout for applicants “who advocate for, aid, or support designated foreign terrorists and other threats to national security; or who perpetrate unlawful anti-Semitic harassment or violence”.
Part of a wider border hardening
The ESTA changes are just one piece of a broader tightening of US entry rules.
Officials recently said an existing travel ban—currently affecting 19 countries, largely in Africa and the Middle East along with several in Asia and the Caribbean—could soon be expanded to include more nations. That discussion intensified after the shooting of two National Guard members in Washington, DC, in which an Afghan man is accused.
Critics argue that layering social-media checks on top of expanded travel bans risks sending a hostile signal to visitors and students, and could further entangle innocent travellers in red tape.
Tourism is already under pressure
The changes come at an awkward time for the US travel industry.
Earlier this year, the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) projected that the United States would be the only one of 184 economies it analysed to see a decline in international visitor spending in 2025, even as other countries rebound.
Other Trump-era policies appear to be weighing on travel as well. Many Canadians have boycotted trips to the US in protest against tariffs and diplomatic tensions. October marked the 10th consecutive month of decline in Canadian visitors, according to industry data.
Historically, Canadians have accounted for around a quarter of all international visitors to the US and have spent more than $20bn a year, figures that underline how sensitive the tourism sector is to policy shifts and political mood.
Whether the proposed ESTA social-media requirement ultimately goes into effect will depend on how DHS responds to the public-comment period and potential legal challenges. But even at the draft stage, it sends a clear message: for would-be visitors to the United States, what you post online could increasingly shape whether you’re allowed to cross the border at all.