Taking a vacation in the US will soon get far more difficult after Donald Trump’s administration plans to force tourists to reveal their social media handles.
This is the latest in several measures aimed at tourists and local residents born outside the country. Tourists visiting the US from nations conventionally considered low-risk US allies will soon find it more difficult to travel to the country. New plans issued this week by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) forces travelers from 42 countries, including Australia, Germany, Israel and Japan, will find themselves under the same scrutiny as the rest of the world since 2019.
Up until the latest measures, tourists from those 42 countries enjoyed a visa waiver, allowing them to visit the US for up to 90 days without the need of a visa, as long as they are authorized through the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA). However, under the new system, travelers will soon be obliged to share their social media history, email addresses and phone numbers as part of the more stringent travel authorization process.
According to the DHS, the proposal, set to come into effect on Feb. 8, 2027 unless challenged in court beforehand, originates from President Donald Trump’s January order for arrival to be “vetted and screened to the maximum degree.” This comes on the heels of a State Department announcement in August that all US visa holders will face “continuous vetting,” including on social media.
Tourists will be required to provide social media handles and phone numbers used over the past five years, and email addresses in the last 10 years, on their entry forms. However, there will be no requirement to hand over log in information.
Just in case anyone needs an even bigger excuse to avoid the US. 😐 pic.twitter.com/Yyax7SBcc3
— ☆ 𝔸𝕟 𝔸𝕟𝕘𝕖𝕝 ☆ (@Anarchist_Angel) December 10, 2025
In theory, this means that the US government can only view publicly available information, unless it gleans further information directly from social media companies, which so far has not been stated in the documentation. However, the new ruling does require that biometric data and a range of personal details on applicants’ family members will be included in entry requirements when it is “feasible.”
So far, full details of how the US government will monitor travelers’ social media accounts are not available. However, the logistics of monitoring a large number of social media accounts will be a challenge.
David Ellis from the Institute for Digital Security and Behavior at the University of Bath in the UK, explained the issues to DW:
“How are they going to manage all that data? Are they just interested in what you’re saying or is it what you consume too?” Ellis said.
“Most people don’t say much online but there is obviously content that we all see online that we don’t agree with, that we didn’t want to see. So how do they [the US government] draw a distinction between that being a red flag, and just something that was served up and you watched for three seconds?”
The Trump executive order cites concerns over terrorism as the reason for increasing security on visitors from overseas. “The United States must ensure that admitted aliens and aliens otherwise already present in the United States do not bear hostile attitudes toward its citizens, culture, government, institutions, or founding principles, and do not advocate for, aid, or support designated foreign terrorists and other threats to our national security,” the order reads.
Ellis said that the order is dangerously open to interpretation and could be used against someone who has liked, viewed or shared something on social media that they might not agree with.
“You could look at someone’s TikTok history and see they saw a video that was promoting extreme views, but they only watched it for a second. Is that better than if it were 30 seconds?” Ellis asked. “Ethically, they should give justification, but they could just say ‘we don’t like your social media use’ to make things difficult for people who want to come to the country with perfectly good intentions.”
So far, there is no clear reference as to what social media data would ban a traveler from entering the US. However, Secretary of State Marco Rubio has described a “catch-and-revoke” or “one-strike policy” which aims to identify foreign nationals in violation of US legislation.
