US travel group, foreign tourists leery of Trump plan to vet social media

A U.S. travel association, a top Democrat, and would-be travelers from Europe and Australia are bristling at President Donald Trump's new plan to require Europeans and other visitors using the visa waiver program to provide social media handles used over the past five years.



The change, announced in a U.S. government notice this week and effective February 8, would require travelers from countries in the visa waiver program to submit the social media data. Applicants for immigrant and non-immigrant visas have been required to share that information since 2019.



The Trump administration has taken a range of steps to increase vetting of foreigners entering the U.S. The requirement for additional information stemmed from a Trump executive order issued on January 20 calling for visitors to the U.S. to be "vetted and screened to the maximum degree," according to the notice published by U.S. Customs and Border Protection.