Trump's Tourist Disclosure Plan: What It Means for Australian Travelers

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San Francisco-based organisation Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is asking whether it’s appropriate for the government to ask for such data and suggested it may be overkill to force tourists to hand over their social media histories.

The proposal was laid out in a notice published on Tuesday in the US Federal Register and would apply to visitors from 42 countries, including the United Kingdom, France, Australia and Japan, who do not need a visa to enter the United States.

Travelers heading to the United States currently need to apply for a waiver called the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA). This process involves submitting various personal details.

US Customs and Border Protection said the change is designed to comply with an executive order from Trump in January, titled: Protecting the United States From Foreign Terrorists and Other National Security and Public Safety Threats.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told reporters in Canberra on Thursday: “The United States, like Australia, is a sovereign nation. They have a right to set the rules which are there…”

Under the proposed new rules, the collection of social media data would become a mandatory part of ESTA applications.

The border protection agency will also add several “high-value data fields” to the ESTA application “when feasible”.

The required information includes phone numbers from the past five years, email addresses dating back ten years, IP addresses, metadata from any electronically submitted photos, and details about family members such as names, birth dates, and places of residence. Additionally, biometrics like fingerprints, facial recognition, DNA, and iris scans, along with business contact information, are also part of the requirements.

Immigration company Vialto’s principal solicitor Stacey Tsui has told SBS News that the social media vetting is used to detect threats against the US government.

“However, anything can be a consideration by the (border) officer, such as if the language being used is threatening, but their primary focus is on US-related attacks.”

Tsui said if someone has a valid visa or reasons for entry, and their background does not raise any red flags, including a criminal past, they can anticipate a smooth entry.

“It does ultimately depend on a person’s personal circumstances to see if there are any concerns,” she said.

However, EFF senior staff attorney Sophia Cole said that what is considered a “threat” to the US has expanded beyond global terrorism, which is the reason why the ESTA was first implemented back in 2008.

“They’re looking for people who want to come to the US and do harm. Now, this generally begs the question: ‘is this really efficacious? Is this actually helping people find terrorists?’”

An expert noted, “If someone is attempting to enter the US with malicious intent, such individuals are typically already flagged by the US government due to more advanced intelligence methods.”

In the first seven months of the current administration, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has deported nearly 200,000 individuals. This pace sets the agency on a path to potentially reach its highest deportation figures in a decade, according to a senior official at Homeland Security.

Trump has pledged to carry out the largest deportation campaign in US history and curb migration.

There remains uncertainty about whether social media accounts must be set to ‘public’ or if lacking social media presence altogether might raise suspicions.

Cole said: “They have increasingly expanded the list of subject matter areas that they deem in a negative light … and (because of this) they’re going to say that this person is not authorised to be in the US or come to the US.”

It’s unclear if social media accounts will need to be set to ‘public’, or if having no social media at all would be considered suspicious.

What should I be worried about on my own social media?

Earlier this year, Australian writer Alistair Kitchen was detained for 12 hours at Los Angeles International Airport and denied entry to the US.

Kitchen alleges he was detained and interrogated twice about his views on the conflict in the Middle East due to blog posts he wrote about the encampment protesting against the war in Gaza at Columbia University in New York. He was also instructed to hand over his phone and passcode to the authorities.

Australian writer Matthew Kitchen wrote blog posts about the Columbia University encampment that was set up in protest against the war in Gaza. The encampment lasted for two weeks in April last year. Source: SIPA USA / Michael Nigro

In a statement to the ABC following the incident, the US homeland security department denied that Kitchen was arrested on the basis of his political views, although it did not deny he was questioned about them.

Cole said it’s hard to know what the government will be looking out for when it comes to social media.

“(The government) keep coming up with these really ridiculous or really broad categories of speech for noncitizens, to come up with an excuse to say ‘we don’t want these non-citizens in the country’.”

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, travel for Australians to the US was at its lowest point since 2019 in September.

Travel volumes were lower than 10 years ago, with 253,220 fewer trips in 2024-25 than 2014-15.

Immigration lawyer Tsui said non-citizens have limited rights when it comes to refusing instructions at the US border.

“The US government has the discretion to request the information and electronic devices,” she said.

She told SBS that, if you’re travelling to the US, it’s important to speak with an immigration lawyer if there are concerns.