US plans to order tourists, including from Israel, to disclose social media histories

Under proposal, visitors from 42 visa-waiver countries, including Israel, UK and France, would be required to submit five years of social media activity before being granted entry

The administration of US President Donald Trump plans to order visa-exempt foreign tourists, including those from Israel, to disclose their social media histories from the last five years before entering the country, according to an official notice.

The regulations would apply to tourists from 42 countries,

The proposal laid out in a notice published Tuesday in the Federal Register would apply to tourists from 42 countries, including the UK, France, Australia and Japan, all allies of the United States, who are enrolled in the government’s Visa Waiver Program that allows passport holders to visit for up to 90 days without a visa.

Israel was first designated into the Visa Waiver Program by DHS in September 2023. The same year, Israeli tourism to the United States reached 376,439, followed by 417,077 in 2024, according to Statista.

Currently, those travelers only need to apply for a waiver known as the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA), which still requires them to provide certain personal details.

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

Applicants would need to provide their social media histories from the last five years, according to the notice.

They would also have to submit other “high-value data fields” including phone numbers from the last five years, email addresses from the past decade, personal details of family members and biometric information.

The public has 60 days to comment on the proposal.

Along with Mexico and Canada, the country will host the 2026 World Cup, which is certain to attract large numbers of soccer fans from across the world.

The Trump administration has tightened curbs on entering the United States, part of a sweeping crackdown on migration triggered in part by the Nov. 26 shooting of two National Guard members by a suspect who is an Afghan national. The suspect entered the country legally and has not been publicly alleged to have had a social media track record that might have elicited alarm.

The potential regulation comes as Israeli soldiers have faced scrutiny for their posts on social media during the war in Gaza, with some soldiers fleeing countries they have visited that are less friendly than the United States to Israel over the threat of potential war crime inquiries.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.