US embassy wants 'every social media username of past five years' on new visa applications

General
21

This is not meant as a bashing … I just thought it was a clear statement at the time and remembered it …

jonahJonah AragonStaff

Jun 21

I just don’t really think there is a reason to ever buy software produced in non-democratic countries, so banning Kaspersky is just like banning software from North Korea in my book. Both very justifiable.
If the US started banning products like this from democratic countries like Proton in Switzerland, for example, then there’d be a serious problem.

The thing with Kaspersky’s product specifically is that they don’t even need a backdoor. Because it’s an antivirus, all Kaspersky has to do is not detect some malware developed by the Russian military, and that is impossible to prove because it’s something that didn’t happen.
edit: the most unfortunate part of this ban is that I suspect people will switch to McAfee or Norton, which are both objectively bad products.

Realizing your job is to inform with the best reasoning to protect people … but then I am reminded there seems to be no absolutes, and close is only good in war and horseshoes.
I think you and your staff do a bang up job, and I appreciate the work and dedication you all display. I especially admire the tenacity and drive of Jordan !

2 Likes
22

I hear you, but although I suspect that US government has a narrow understanding of what social media is, social media is also blogs and forums (PG), and thousands of platforms that are not owned by Big Tech (Meta, Google, MS, or Amazon. )

Correct me if I’m wrong, but as far as I know the US government doesn’t specifically ask if you have a FB account, or Twitter account, or an IG account. They just ask for social media handles that you use.

My friend only shared her FB handle, even though she is on other platforms. Suppose you decide to share your usernames for super local forums dedicated to birdwatching, interior design, Pokémon, latin words, etc… Shouldn’t you be fine?

Also, imagine you are half Japanese half Danish, and you live in Spain. You apply for US vis from Spain. I suspect that if you only share your handles for forums that exclusively in Japanese, the Embassy won’t bother trying to translate your posts. It would be too time-consuming. Non-English speakers might have an advantage.