Entry to USA - social media

[jdw100]

Anyone care to help?

A discussion yesterday with a friend who is travelling to USA.

Immigration can request to check his social media, look at his phone, laptop etc.

That’s fine as he is not, to my best knowledge, an extremist of any sort.

The discussion was if I went and was taken to one side for the above check, how would Immigration react?

I have no Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or any similar like Telegram or TikTok. Never had them at any point in my life.

Would Immigration believe this or would they assume I had deleted the accounts from my devices?

He thinks it would be quite suspect these days.

Is there any way they could check? Could not providing accounts be an issue, leading to an assumption of ‘this guy is a bit suspicious’.

I have pistonheads (obviously) but it’s not an app and is linked to an email address that doesn’t exist, was a BT one that they shut down the service years ago. Used to be on a watch forum but probably not in the last three years and hardly contentious ‘down with the West’ type stuff and again it wasn’t an app on a phone.

Any one with any knowledge in this area?

[jonwm]

Having been a few times lately, I feel they have much better things to do than check SM.

I really struggled with the thumb print a few years ago, not sure why but I just couldn't bend my thumb in the shape he wanted for the scanner. He literally said if I do it wrong again we as a family are not coming in. Not sure if he meant it but I managed to sort it. No mention of SM andvit never crossed my mind as I don't have much either.

[alscar]

I used to travel to the US frequently when working but never got taken to a small room.
I too have never been on SM but doubt very much any conversation with the authorities would go any further than “ yes I’m not on SM “.
If you are taken into a small room then something is already up with your passport or previous “ records “.

[gshughes]

I was asked to confirm which SM accounts I had on the ESTA form when applying for a Visa, but not the actual account details - as far as I can remember, it was a couple of years ago.

[2 GKC]

gshughes said:

I was asked to confirm which SM accounts I had on the ESTA form when applying for a Visa, but not the actual account details - as far as I can remember, it was a couple of years ago.

That’s optional too.

[Southerner]

2 GKC said:

gshughes said:

I was asked to confirm which SM accounts I had on the ESTA form when applying for a Visa, but not the actual account details - as far as I can remember, it was a couple of years ago.

That s optional too.

One assumes the politely declining to tell them probably won’t help ease a smooth arrival, however?

[JagYouAre]

Southerner said:

One assumes the politely declining to tell them probably won t help ease a smooth arrival, however?

I've always left that bit blank and never had an issue on several visits since ESTAs were a thing.

I have had problems with the fingerprint machine once though like someone above, in my case due to my sweaty fingers not allowing it to read properly, but luckily my immigration agent saw the funny side.

For a while I thought the Russian visa I had glued to a page in my passport would kick up a fuss but again, never an issue and now that passport's been replaced.

If you are genuinely no threat I really don't think you've got much to worry about. As someone else said they've probably got a lot better things to do than scour random people's social media. The only person I know who always gets pulled aside for the small room treatment is a guy who lived over there for a while after university about 20 years ago and accidentally overstayed his visa. We were over there last year together and it seems they still haven't forgotten

[2 GKC]

Southerner said:

One assumes the politely declining to tell them probably won t help ease a smooth arrival, however?

Never filled it in. Never had an issue. If they were that bothered it wouldn’t be optional.

[mmm-five]

Is there a clear definition of 'social media'?

I have Youtube, LinkedIn, and Whatsapp, and lots of fora logins...but nothing like Xwitter, Facebook, Instagram, et al. - although I'm sure there are 'shadow' accounts set up by the owners to boost their advertising numbers.

Edited by mmm-five on Friday 11th July 16:50

[Mortarboard]

CBP aren't going to spend much time on it. However, if your name matches someone who dies have a big, anti trump presence, you might want to be able to show you're not "them"- because it's easiest forbthe officers to just not admit you.

Google your own name and see what pops up...

M.

[Tony1963]

Show them this thread. It’s a form of SM.

[John D.]

Tony1963 said:

Show them this thread. It s a form of SM.

Indeed. Love the 'I've never been on SM either' comments

OP - I think you are worrying about nothing unless you are a prominent journalist / Trump critic / drawing online attention to yourself.

[Ruskie]

Interestingly, I have the Anarchist Cookbook on an old hard drive from working in EOD. Suspect that would need some explaining if found!

[charltjr]

Ruskie said:

Interestingly, I have the Anarchist Cookbook on an old hard drive from working in EOD. Suspect that would need some explaining if found!

The US don’t care about it, in the UK however…… “possessing a document useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism” is the potential offence in the UK.

Ridiculous for something that was basically a rite of passage read for many, but we are where we are.