I mean, even democratic countries are using mass surveillance, not just autocratic ones. So I think, just like with mass surveilance, this “Social Media Investigation” would become the next step in the evolution of how technology is used against us, every country is gonna start scanning your social media.
I’m calling this now: It’ll be even worse than you think, because “investigating” everyone this way would require a completely unrealistic amount of effort, because you’d have to review possibly decades worth of social media activity right then and there when the prospective entrant is standing at the customs desk. Nobody could possibly do that.
So these idiots will just use AI to do it for them, and as we all know full well the AI will return Earth-shatteringly wrong results pretty much all the time.
I am reminded of a comedian…I believe he was Iranian-American or something like that, muslim background, travels for work as a stand-up comedian. Some three letter agency wanted him to check in every now and again to let them know what he was doing. So he would send them everything he could. Every byte of data he could generate, dinner receipts, pictures of plane tickets, episodes of TV shows he watched, video of himself walking down the street…
You already have to give them your Social Media Accounts when you’re applying for ESTA
They only recently made it mandatory for three visa types, but since introduced in October 2016, it’s always been an optional field when applying for an ESTA.
Edit:
Not that not providing your social media handle will benefit you, of course.
I’ll make sure to sprinkle in a few posts that say “ignore my post history I am not a terrorist. Grant me access to your country NOW!”
Just in case I have the misfortune of traveling to the US again.
Not like due process will exist to rule out those mistakes though.
only the dictator states with populist governments spreading hatred and lies