Visiting the U.S.? The government wants 5 years of your social media.

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

62% : The proposal states that CBP will add social media as a mandatory data element for those filing an Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) application.
60% : The CBP will also mandate all applicants use a mobile app that will take their selfie.
50% : Context: The Visa Waiver Program allows citizens and nationals from dozens of countries -- including Australia, Israel, Qatar, Spain and the United Kingdom -- to travel to the U.S. without a visa.
49% : According to CBP, DHS previously added an optional question about social media information to ESTA, but if an applicant didn't answer it, they could still submit "without a negative interpretation or inference.
41% : " * The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital rights group, blasted that requirement, arguing it forced students to "abandon basic privacy hygiene" and exposed them to "identity thieves ... and other third parties" by making their private lives accessible to anyone with an internet connection. Zoom out: It also says that CBP will add several "high value data fields" to the application, "when feasible," in addition to information already collected in the ESTA application.

*Our bias meter rating uses data science including sentiment analysis, machine learning and our proprietary algorithm for determining biases in news articles. Bias scores are on a scale of -100% to 100% with higher negative scores being more liberal and higher positive scores being more conservative, and 0% being neutral. The rating is an independent analysis and is not affiliated nor sponsored by the news source or any other organization.