In a significant move to increase surveillance of those seeking to enter the United States, Washington will require most individuals applying for visas to provide details of their social media handles going back five years. Online visa forms that require social media account history became operational at the end of last week and will cover all applicants except those applying for certain official and diplomatic visas. The rule to expand social media history data collection to all immigrant and non-immigrant visa applicants was first published by the State Department in April 2018. Earlier, social media information was asked of only certain individuals whose applications required further review. “There is also no evidence that such social media monitoring is effective or fair, especially in the absence of criteria to guide the use of social media information in the visa adjudication process,” the ACLU had said.

Source: The Hindu June 02, 2019 09:01 UTC