
US State Department begins social media screening for nearly all visa applicants - DVassallo
https://techcrunch.com/2019/06/01/u-s-state-department-begins-social-media-screening-for-nearly-all-visa-applicants/
======
dang
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20065142](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20065142)

------
axaxs
My wife mentioned this to me yesterday, and I laughed and said I guess it
wouldn't have affected me anyways as I don't really do much social media
(unless you count this as social media). Now I'm beginning to wonder if
they'll assume you're lying if you said that, or somehow more suspicious...

~~~
sambull
Sounds like currently more of a black box to deny anyone a VISA that can't
remember every website they signed up for in the last 5 years.

~~~
mdanger007
If you put "RT ≠ Endorsement" on your profile, you should be safe.

------
mavelikara
> Yesterday the U.S. State Department began implementing its requirement that
> nearly all U.S. visa applicants submit their social media usernames,
> previous email addresses and phone numbers as part of the application
> process.

> These new obstacles to immigration come at a time ...

If I understand this correctly, these are not obstacles to just immigrate to
USA; these are obstacles for _visiting_ USA.

~~~
ganeshkrishnan
these are not obstacles for visiting USA; these are obstacles even if you are
just transiting through USA.

------
voidwtf
IMO this is how social media ends itself. As real world consequences become
less distant and people have to be more ‘politically correct’ where being
‘politically correct’ is a function of which political party is currently in
charge, people will use social media less and less. Social media will just
become another outlet for ‘mainstream media’ and sycophants.

It’s been difficult to see anything positive in the social media sphere
lately. I closed my Facebook account nearly 5 years ago because it just felt
like a toxic influence. My reddit account nearly 6 years ago met the same
fate.

These days I can only stand using Discord and WhatsApp for conversations with
people I know IRL. I can’t imagine my kids ever being interested in most
social media sites as they’ve already skipped most social media services to
talk to their friends directly in video games like Minecraft and Roblox and
using iMessage in group conversations.

~~~
oliwarner
Or, this is how Facebook replaces US Customs and Border Protection.

I reckon Facebook could do a pretty good job at that. Deep network checks,
location history, call logs, content history (if they're active on the sites
you browse). Terrifying but through. Makes the NSA look like a nosey neighbour
peeping over the fence.

------
DVassallo
"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and
effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated..."
— The United States Bill of Rights

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all [people] are created
equal..." — The United States Declaration of Independence

~~~
JetSpiegel
The people applying are not citizens, so ʾthe people' doesn't mean those
particular people.

------
_iyig
I think there’s likely a reasonable expectation of privacy somewhere, such as
for private posts or protected tweets (which the measures FTA would not
necessarily examine). At the same time, if someone’s sharing their support for
ISIS on Facebook, I sure hope authorities would take notice and act
accordingly.

------
Swizec
I used my social media as a supporting argument for an O1 ama.

That said, _requiring_ it for everyone seems heavy handed and feels wrong. I
can’t quite put into words why, however.

And I bet most people who have not dealt with visas will just say “Well if you
have nothing to hide ...”

------
ganeshkrishnan
An interesting anecdote: Even if you are transiting through US you need a
transit visa. So we were flying from Australia to Canada with a change of
planes in US and we had to get an ESTA visa.

The visa application requires you to enter social media profiles for major
platforms including facebook, twitter etc but there is no way for them to
verify it's really yours. We did fill up ours but for my two year old toddler
I just marked as no social media profile.

The lack of social media profile on one of the application meant the whole
application was flagged delaying our ESTA. I would have assumed that the
system would have a check to allow no social media for people younger than 13
(or 16)

~~~
vinni2
I had no problem getting ESTA approved without mentioning any social media
accounts within an hour!

------
microcolonel
I wonder if not having any social media presence would be a problem; I think
that would be the more insidiuous thing. Social media posts are, effectively,
_publications_ ; whether they tell you it's policy or not, it's likely that
they would (and perhaps should) look.

My main concern is that they would be suspicious of people who don't publish
their every thought on the internet.

------
burtonator
"Sure.. check out my blog. lemonparty.org"

... actually. We should/could setup a group collaboration site on a different
shock URL that's close to this which would have plausible deniability if you
gave them the shock URL.

"OMG! I mean lemonparties.org.. not lemonparty.org... WTF"

------
pmoriarty
Expect tit-for-tat responses from other countries for Americans trying to
visit them.

------
PeterStuer
They already have access to 100% of social media. This is just to have a
plausibly official second source.

------
GarMan
I can’t tell if coming through with a B1 or B2 with globs entry is included in
this.

------
curiousgal
This is what happens when you believe you're the greatest country in the world
and that anyone trying to visit is up to no good and just wants to overstay
their visa and take advantage of your amazing system.

The reality couldn't be any further from that!

~~~
ccrush
If the reality couldn't be further from that, how do you explain that nearly
everyone in the world thst wants a better life comes to the United States?

~~~
graeme
Do you have any numbers to support your statement? I just looked up migration
stats from the UN, and found:

1\. The vast bulk of migrants do not go to the US

2\. International share of migrants has grown much faster than the US share

The US has a large overall number of immigrants as it is a large country, but
per capita many countries are taking in more. Canada takes in about 3x per
capita for example.

~~~
jeena
Here is a nice info-graphic about it:
[https://www.forbes.com/sites/niallmccarthy/2017/04/03/lebano...](https://www.forbes.com/sites/niallmccarthy/2017/04/03/lebanon-
still-has-hosts-the-most-refugees-per-capita-by-far-infographic/#62c26eee3970)

