The TOI Correspondent from Washington: That social media rant you posted in 2022 lambasting Washington for its numerous wars may come back to haunt you in 2026 if you are planning to visit the United States. The US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has announced a major expansion of screening requirements for foreign visitors, proposing a rule that would require nearly all non-US citizens entering the country to disclose up to five years of social media activity.
The proposal was detailed in a Federal Register notice released Wednesday and marks one of the most sweeping attempts yet to incorporate digital-footprint analysis into immigration and border security procedures.. The move adds to a growing suite of digital and biometric requirements that are already prompting a bitter debate over privacy, national security and the future of international travel, particularly if other nations retaliate.
India will likely be affected on all fronts, from business visas to tourist travel. It is consistently the second largest country of origin for US visas, after Mexico. In 2023, Indian nationals obtained around 1.3 million nonimmigrant visas, and visa issuance from India has recently hit record highs
Under the proposed regulation, visa applicants and even travelers from visa waiver countries alike would need to identify every social media platform they have used over the past five years. They would also be required to provide any personal or business phone numbers used during the same period, email addresses going back ten years, and identifying information for immediate family members.
The CBP is also expanding its biometric screening: travelers may soon be asked for selfies, facial scans or other biometric data as part of their entry and exit processing.
Until now, such intrusive screening was largely reserved for long-term or high-risk visa applicants. Casual visitors on short-term business trips or vacations typically underwent far lighter scrutiny. By making social media history a mandatory component for virtually all foreign entries, CBP would place millions of tourists, business travelers and transit passengers under the same rigorous vetting previously reserved for immigration.
The timing of the proposed rules comes amid a hard-line public stance from President Trump who, during a rally in Pennsylvania on Wednesday night, aggressively attacked immigrants from what he described as “hellhole” nations. Trump resurrected a notorious 2018 comment which he had previously disavowed: “Why is it we only take people from s***h**e countries, right?” he asked the crowd, contrasting these countries — naming Afghanistan, Haiti and Somalia — with what he called “nice people” from nations such as Norway, Sweden and Denmark, asserting the US should “just take a few” immigrants from there instead.
Privacy advocates and civil-liberties are warning that sweeping up years of social media activity amounts to mass digital surveillance. They also also argue the policy threatens free expression, could misinterpret satire or cultural nuance, and may result in arbitrary denials or deportations based on subjective judgments.
By demanding detailed personal data from every visitor, the US may render itself unwelcoming compared with other destinations – including from citizens of visa waiver countries in Europe who had previously enjoyed visa-free access. Reviewing social media records — filtering for legitimate security concerns versus benign content — adds complexity and raises the risk of false positives. Language barriers, cultural differences, humor or political jokes could all be misread.
The Federal Register posting initiates a public-comment period running through February 9, 2026. During that time, individuals, civil-rights groups, foreign governments and industry stakeholders may weigh in. Afterward, CBP will decide whether to finalize the rule, modify it, or abandon it. If approved, the changes could begin to take effect by mid-2026 — cementing a new reality in which a traveler’s tweets from five years ago may influence whether they ever set foot on US soil.
Rajghatta is author of Kamala Harris: Phenomenal Woman