Source: Douglas Sacha / Getty
Want to apply for a visa? Well, it’s going to require even more information if a new proposal from the US State Department would require all US visa applicants to share their social media information on forms if approved.
Better chill with those “terroristic” tweets, slander towards Trump and memes.
According to a Bloomberg Report, the new stricter guidelines are much broader than the original forms. Disclosing that information used to be voluntary and only applied to those labeled “extra security”. If you want to make a comment on the new proposal you have 60 days to currently do so and all comments can be sent to PRA_BurdenComments@state.gov.
The new forms will list all of the specific social media platforms and will require applicants to “provide any identifiers used by applicants for those platforms during the five years preceding the date of application.” As time goes along more platforms could be added or removed from the form. This move should come as no surprise during the age of Trump as the effort to collect more information on US visitors’ and their social media activity is at an all-time high.
Trump’s favorites the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency better known as ICE is currently seeking companies to help them go through all of this newly collected information. BUT no vendor has been selected yet but could this be a tool to help ICE in their mission to help Trump “make America great again”?
This isn’t their first attempt at implementing such measures though. A report from the DHS Inspector General reveals that back in February 2017 earlier proposed screening tools “failed to set clear objectives.” One of the tools “was not a viable option for automated social media screening and that manual review was more effective at identifying accounts.”
Do you feel this is proposal is necessary or is the US Government trying to do entirely too much? Sound off in the comments below.
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Photo: Douglas Sacha / Getty
