00:00Travelers applying for a U.S. visa, specifically from visa waiver countries like the U.K., France, or Japan, may soon face a new requirement.
00:08Sharing five years of social media history before entering the U.S.
00:12Customs and Border Protection is floating this idea as part of a bigger push for national security.
00:17Basically, they want to see any old Twitter rants, Instagram posts, or maybe even TikToks that could be labeled as anti-American before boarding the plane.
00:24And it doesn't stop there, they're also talking about collecting old phone numbers, email and IP addresses, and even biometric data like selfies and fingerprints.
00:32The government says this helps them vet travelers better, but critics are calling it a digital strip search.
00:37Why does this matter?
00:38Well, the visa waiver program was designed to make immigration simpler for citizens of allied countries,
00:43but adding requirements like social media history shifts the balance towards more scrutiny.
00:47Supporters argue it strengthens national security, while critics worry it expands government surveillance into personal lives.
00:53So the real question is, should protecting borders justify digging into years of someone's online activity, or does that cross the line of privacy?
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