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US could ask foreign tourists for five-year social media history before entry

bbc.co.uk

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Re: US could ask foreign tourists for five-year social media history before entry

#131

Post by JKCalhoun »

rayiner wrote: post #32
JKCalhoun wrote: post #4

"Officers were instructed to screen for those "who advocate for, aid, or support designated foreign terrorists and other threats to national security; or who perpetrate unlawful anti-Semitic harassment or violence"." Okay, that's your job then. It's not mine or anyone else's job to just hand everything over.

That's like saying aircraft inspections is the FAA's job and it's not Boeing's job "to just hand everything over." Entering into a country's borders is a privilege and you submit to an inspection in doing so. One of the very first things the American founding fathers did in 1789 was to create a customs service to perform border inspections: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Customs_Service .

One has quite a bit more to do with privacy. And stifling free speech.

Re: US could ask foreign tourists for five-year social media history before entry

#132

Post by ponector »

dogemaster2028 wrote: post #112
nness wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who is being arrested in the UK?

- Jon Richelieu-Booth for posting a picture of himself with a gun in the US - Jordan Parlour for Facebook posts that were deemed ‘hateful.’ - Bernadette Spofforth for a post with a “mild inaccuracy” - Maxie Allen and Rosalind Levine, after raising concerns in a private parents’ WhatsApp group about the hiring process of their daughter’s school - Lucy Connolly, for a post calling for mass deportation and to set fire t…

Don't you think people should have consequences for the hate speech?

Re: US could ask foreign tourists for five-year social media history before entry

#133

Post by nness »

dogemaster2028 wrote: post #112
nness wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who is being arrested in the UK?

- Jon Richelieu-Booth for posting a picture of himself with a gun in the US - Jordan Parlour for Facebook posts that were deemed ‘hateful.’ - Bernadette Spofforth for a post with a “mild inaccuracy” - Maxie Allen and Rosalind Levine, after raising concerns in a private parents’ WhatsApp group about the hiring process of their daughter’s school - Lucy Connolly, for a post calling for mass deportation and to set fire t…

I mean, a quick search of all of these people, and you can find something which absolutely warranted police investigation. That's the police doing what they're meant to do — investigate and ensure public safety.

- Jon Richelieu-Booth was investigated for stalking and making threats. The gun photo was not part of the police investigation.

- Jordan Parlour was charged for suggesting attacking hotels housing asylum seekers.

- Bernadette Spofforth was investigated for distributing misinformation with the intent to incite violence.

- Lucy Connolly for exactly what you say, inciting violence

- Norbert Gyurcsik had and was selling terrorist materials. (Just because you pair something illegal in a melody doesn't change its content...)

(With the exception of Maxie Allen and Rosalind Levine, which was an unlawful arrest and they were had restitution for it.)

Re: US could ask foreign tourists for five-year social media history before entry

#135

Post by vidarh »

dogemaster2028 wrote: post #112
nness wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who is being arrested in the UK?

- Jon Richelieu-Booth for posting a picture of himself with a gun in the US - Jordan Parlour for Facebook posts that were deemed ‘hateful.’ - Bernadette Spofforth for a post with a “mild inaccuracy” - Maxie Allen and Rosalind Levine, after raising concerns in a private parents’ WhatsApp group about the hiring process of their daughter’s school - Lucy Connolly, for a post calling for mass deportation and to set fire t…

> - Jon Richelieu-Booth for posting a picture of himself with a gun in the US

A quick search suggests that the photo with the gun wasn't the sole cause of the arrest, given there were stalking allegations "involving serious alarm or distress" from someone he had a conflict with, where the gun was one part of what caused the complainint to (claim to) feel threatened. Police may well have overreacted due to the gun post, but your framing leaves out rather relevant details.

> - Jordan Parlour for Facebook posts that were deemed ‘hateful.’

Appears to have incited violence by advocating an attack on a hotel, something he pleaded guilty to.

> - Bernadette Spofforth for a post with a “mild inaccuracy”

Was arrested for posting a fake name for an attacker, but released and faced no further action.

Calling potentially putting a target on the back of someone innocent by connecting them to a violent crime a "mild inaccuracy" is at best wildly misleading.

> Maxie Allen and Rosalind Levine

These people did get a wrongful arrest payout, but the claim was most certainly not just raising concerns in a private parent's WhatsApp group. The claims including harassment, and causing a nuisance on the school premises. The claim was still wrong, and the payout reflects that the police should not have been so quick to believe the allegations before making an arrest. But your claim is still hyperbole.

> - Lucy Connolly, for a post calling for mass deportation and to set fire to hotels housing immigrants

At least in this one you admitted the arrest was over incitement to violence.

> - Norbert Gyurcsik, for having “extreme right wing music”

No, for buying and distributing albums whose lyrics breach terrorism legislation and intended to incite racial hatred.

I have plenty of issues with UK terror legislation, which I believe is being abused to shut down legitimate speech at times, but framing this the way you did is again wildly misleading and hyperbolic.

But even if none of your claims were wildly misleading, none of them support your initial claim:

> You are allowed to say it. Unlike UK, you won’t be arrested. But you won’t be allowed in.

... about a comment referring to criticism of the government.

None of the cases above were relevant to that. Most of them are relating to classes of speech that are not protected in the US either.

Re: US could ask foreign tourists for five-year social media history before entry

#136

Post by netfortius »

BLKNSLVR wrote: post #41

What of those who have virtually no footprint? Almost the only thing I have is LinkedIn, which is always only as up to date as the last time I changed jobs, which I don't do often. No Facebook, insta, snap, twitter, tiktok. I subscribe to maybe five channels on YouTube. My HN account isn't linked to my main 'identity' email address so I could hide it just by having a clean phone (which I do for international travel a…

Wouldn't an HN account need to be mentioned, once this platform is made visible enough, so that the bozos in charge, in the US, take it seriously? A social media ICE would love to dig into such.

Re: US could ask foreign tourists for five-year social media history before entry

#137

Post by vidarh »

andsoitis wrote: post #124
vidarh wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, but few other countries are as draconian about this as the US seems to want to be, and it is relevant to want to discuss how it will affect the US to make itself a less attractive place to travel to.

Try travel to Europe on an African passport…

I have in-laws who do that regularly. I'm aware there are plenty of complications with that. I still stand by what I wrote.

Re: US could ask foreign tourists for five-year social media history before entry

#138

Post by rayiner »

stfp wrote: post #117
dogemaster2028 wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If I was speaking badly about you in social media, I would understand it if you don’t want me at your house.

Criticizing fascists isn’t “speaking badly” of the US or of american people. A vast majority of people aren’t happy about what’s going on.

> A vast majority of people aren’t happy about what’s going on.

Because Trump hasn't gotten prices to pre-Biden levels like he promised, not because of what he's doing at the border. Trump has a 49% approval rating on immigration, 50% on "returning America to its values," and 51% on "fighting crime in America's cities." https://harvardharrispoll.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/HHP... (page 9).

51% of the country, including 32% of democrats, support "us[ing] the National Guard and active-duty military to police American cities and stop crime and disorder." (Page 23)

Re: US could ask foreign tourists for five-year social media history before entry

#139

Post by embedding-shape »

vinni2 wrote: post #113
embedding-shape wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> to catch the lowest common denominator of terrorist or foreign subversive My guess from the outside, is that none of these actions are actually meant to "capture" or even "detect" any of those things, the methods are likely to inefficient and small to be able to do so. What they're trying to do, is make those people not even consider going to the US in the first place, because they're scared of getting caught. Same…

They have managed to scare me off at least. So I will spend my money elsewhere.

Same here, have had to cancel meetings, conferences, events and more because me and others don't feel like taking the risk of ending up in a detention center and sent to a foreign country. I'm guessing all of this is working exactly as they intended it to work.

Re: US could ask foreign tourists for five-year social media history before entry

#140

Post by [deleted] »

BLKNSLVR wrote: post #103
rayiner wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then just say that. Customs has some list that's automatically generated based on a Google search or something like that, and all they're doing is trying to catch you lying. Like the TSA, this screening is done by the lowest common denominator of government employee to catch the lowest common denominator of terrorist or foreign subversive.

How could this be weaponised against someone you don't like? How easy is it to set up a account under someone else's name, post a bunch of inflammatory opinions, AI some photos of them at a Free Palestine rally, and then sit back and await the inevitable border crossing horror story? Mental note: Research yourself (and your traveling companions) thoroughly before visiting the US.

[deleted]
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