Timeline of Social Media Monitoring for Vetting by the Department of Homeland Security and the State Department

Department of Homeland Security

DHS Social Media Monitoring Pilot Programs:

A 2017 DHS Inspector General report disclosed three DHS pilot programs that used automated search tools for social media screening of refugee and nonimmigrant visa applications. The report criticized the programs for failing to clearly measure their success against set criteria.

Relevant Executive Orders:

Most heightened social media vetting initiatives draw authority from language in President Trump’s first two Muslim ban executive orders. The first, EO 13769, was replaced a few months later by EO 1780, which called for the use of “any… appropriate means… for a rigorous evaluation of all grounds of inadmissibility or grounds for the denial of other immigration benefits.” President Biden rescinded the Muslim ban at the beginning of his term via Presidential Proclamation 10141. At the beginning of his second term, President Trump attempted to reinstate his first term’s screening and vetting initiatives through EO 14161.

A-Files:

In 2017, DHS began storing “social media handles, aliases, associated identifiable information, and search results” in immigrants’ Alien Files, or A-Files. 

Collection of Social Media Identifiers on DHS Forms:

At the end of the Obama administration, DHS implemented optional collection of social media identifiers on Visa Waiver Program (VWP) forms. The Visa Waiver Program permits citizens of 42 countries to travel to the United States for up to 90 days without a visa.

In 2019, DHS proposed the collection of social media identifiers used in the last five years on numerous Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and USCIS forms (including for the VWP) through a “mandatory” field. The proposal would impact an estimated 33 million people per year, but after President Biden rescinded the Muslim ban, OMB rejected it. 

In 2021, DHS proposed requiring disclosure of social media identifiers for VWP and Electronic Visa Update System (EVUS) applicants. EVUS is used by Chinese nationals with a 10-year visa to facilitate their travel to the United States. Following OMB review, DHS dropped the requirement for the VWP. Therefore, disclosing social media identifiers for ESTA is still optional. OMB never concluded the request with respect to EVUS, but in 2023, CBP introduced optional collection of social media identifiers on the EVUS application.

In March 2025, USCIS proposed to collect social media identifiers from people seeking immigration benefits, estimated to impact 3.6 million people annually, almost all of whom are within the United States. That proposal is still in process. 

United States Refugee Admission Program (USRAP):

After initially suspending refugee admissions for 120 days, the first Trump administration expanded the USCIS “enhanced review” process, including social media checks, for refugees based on Security Advisory Opinion (SAO) designations. 

Extreme Vetting Initiative (EVI):

In 2017, ICE sought vendors that would use machine-learning software to ingest publicly available information, including social media, to draw probabilistic conclusions about visa applicants and generate leads for deportations. In 2018, ICE dropped the machine-learning component of their contract because no vendor could offer the technology they wanted. Instead, they opted for a 5-year, $50 million labor-based contract, rebranded as the “Visa Lifecycle Vetting Initiative” (VLVI), with manual review of social media accounts. 

Department of State

In May 2017, the State Department began requiring disclosure of social media identifiers used in the last five years for a subset of immigrant and nonimmigrant visa applicants who had been “determined to warrant additional scrutiny.” This practice ended in May 2021 after it became duplicative due to the developments below.

After an initial March 2018 proposal, in May 2019, the State Department began collecting social media identifiers that all immigrant and nonimmigrant visa applicants used in the last five years. This covers nearly all 15 million visa applicants each year.

A March 2025 internal State Department cable directed consular officers to refer “certain student and exchange visitor (F, M, and J) visa applicants to the Fraud Prevention Unit (FPU) for a mandatory social media check.” Based on the context for the cable and comments from Secretary Rubio and President Trump, it appears the new process is intended to target protestors. 

2015

• December – DHS begins both manual and automatic screening of the social media accounts of a limited number of individuals applying to travel to the United States, through various non-public pilot programs. According to a 2017 report by the DHS Inspector General, the objective of the program was to “examine the feasibility of using social media screening with an [unnamed] automated search tool” for adjudicating some refugee applications. 

2016

• April – U.S. Customs and Immigration Services (USCIS) tests another unnamed automated tool in a different pilot that utilizes voluntary disclosure of social media usernames. Its purpose was to expand screening to additional applicants, including refugees, using a tool developed through the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). 
   
• June 23 – DHS issues a proposal to collect social media information from Visa Waiver Program (VWP) travelers through the creation of an optional data field on the Arrival and Departure Record (Form I-94W) and Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA). The Visa Waiver Program permits citizens of 42 countries to travel to the United States for up to 90 days without a visa.
  • August 22 – The Brennan Center submits comments to DHS, opposing the proposal. 
     
• August – Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) begins another pilot program to screen the social media activity of a category of nonimmigrant visa applicants. This pilot uses an automated web search tool that “specializes in social media data exploitation by analyzing social media data and funneling it into actionable information.” 
   
• August 31 – DHS issues a notice allowing an additional 30 days for the posting of public comments regarding the proposed Visa Waiver Program and ESTA social media information collection published on June 23, 2016.
  • October 3 – the Brennan Center and a coalition of 10 civil liberties organizations submit an additional set of comments to DHS in opposition to the proposal. 
     

• December 19 – DHS receives approval from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to collect social media information from Visa Waiver Program travelers using the I-94W and ESTA, first proposed on June 23, 2016. This collection is optional. 

  2017

• January 27 – President Trump issues Executive Order 13769: Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States – otherwise known as the Muslim ban. The order calls for the implementation of a process to evaluate, for visa applicants, “the applicant’s likelihood of becoming a positively contributing member of society and the applicant’s ability to make contributions to the national interest.” The order does not specifically reference social media but is subsequently cited as a basis for social media collection programs. 
   
• February 7 – DHS Secretary John Kelly suggests in a statement at the House Homeland Security Committee hearing that DHS could require non-citizens to provide the passwords to their social media accounts as a condition of entering the country.
  • March 10 ­­– A coalition of 44 civil society organizations sends a comprehensive letter directly to Secretary Kelly condemning the Secretary’s February comments. 
     
• February 27 – After conducting an inspection to review DHS’s social media pilot programs, the Inspector General releases the report, cited above, entitled DHS’ Pilots for Social Media Screening Need Increased Rigor to Ensure Scalability and Long-Term Success. In addition to revealing information about the pilot programs, the report concludes that it is not clear that DHS is “measuring and evaluating the pilots’ results to determine how well they are performing against set criteria.” 
   
• March 6 – President Trump replaces the January 27, 2017 Executive Order 13769 with Executive Order 13780 under the same name. The new order allows for “any… appropriate means” of “ensuring the proper collection of all information necessary for a rigorous evaluation of all grounds of inadmissibility or grounds for the denial of other immigration benefits.” 
   
• June 12 – ICE issues a special notice announcing two “industry days” for vendors interested in a contract for the proposed “Extreme Vetting Initiative.” The Extreme Vetting Initiative, if established, will require “an overarching vetting contract that automates, centralizes and streamlines the current manual vetting process” to enable ICE to evaluate an “applicant’s probability of becoming a positively contributing member of society as well as their ability to contribute to national interests,” matching the language of the Muslim ban executive orders. 
   
• September 18 – DHS issues a notice expanding the categories of information stored in individuals’ official immigration records, known as Alien Files or A-files, to include “social media handles, aliases, associated identifiable information, and search results.” A-Files store data for 100 years after their subject’s date of birth. The notice invites comments until October 18, 2017, but the modified system goes into effect “upon publication.”
  • October 18 – The Brennan Center and a coalition of 26 civil society organizations submit comments expressing opposition to the DHS notice. 
     
• September 21 – Customs and Border Protection (CBP) issues a notice to propose the establishment of a new system of intelligence records, the CBP Intelligence Reporting System (CIRS), which will include “public-source” data from social media.
  • October 23 – The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) submits comments objecting to significant aspects of this notice. 
     
• October 24 – Citing EO 13780, the updated Muslim ban, the White House announces an expansion of USCIS’s “enhanced review” process, including social media checks, for refugees from at least 11 countries identified as posing a “higher risk” to the U.S. based on their designation on the Security Advisory Opinion (SAO) list. This announcement follows an interagency memo sent to the president on October 23. 
   
• October 27 – DHS’s Privacy Office issues a Privacy Compliance Review of CBP’s use of social media for ESTA vetting. It concludes that the use of social media identifiers was compliant with the requirements outlined in its privacy impact assessment. However, it cannot verify whether officers were collecting only the minimum necessary amount of personal information because “there is not a mechanism in place for the ESTA program to […] determine the efficacy of the collection of social media identifiers.” 
   
• November 16 – Launch of campaign against the Extreme Vetting Initiative
  • The Brennan Center and a coalition of 55 civil society organizations send a letter to DHS urging the Department to abandon its pursuit of an Extreme Vetting Initiative, including its aim to use machine learning to monitor social media and the whole of the open internet to vet visa applicants and generate leads for deportation. The letter observes that the initiative is “tailor-made for discrimination,” arguing that it will “undoubtedly chill free expression” by driving foreign travelers and their American friends and family to censor themselves online.
  • A coalition of 54 of the nation’s leading experts in machine learning and automated decision-making send a letter to DHS opposing ICE’s Extreme Vetting Initiative, explaining that “no computational methods can provide reliable or objective assessments of the traits that ICE seeks to measure.” 
     

• November 20 – Six U.S. senators send a letter to the Acting Secretary of DHS to express concern and seek clarification regarding DHS’s September 2017 proposal to retain social media handles, aliases, associated identifiable information, and search results in immigrants’ A-files. 

  2018

• January 2 – The Daily Beast publishes a series of documents obtained through a FOIA request, bringing to light more information about USCIS’s social media pilot programs. Though quite redacted, the documents show that the programs focused mainly on Muslims and were largely ineffective in identifying national security concerns. 
   
• April 28 – ICE drops the machine learning requirement of the Extreme Vetting Initiative, opting instead for a labor-based contract (rebranded as the “Visa Lifecycle Vetting Initiative”) under which it will hire contractors to review individuals’ social media accounts. The contract for ICE’s human-centered monitoring was awarded to SRA International (now CSRA Inc., owned by General Dynamics), but challenged by two other big data analytics companies. Both protests were eventually denied by the U.S. Government Accountability Office and funding was officially awarded to SRA on May 30, 2019. 
   

• Late October – The Brennan Center receives a production of documents from a September 2017 FOIA request to ICE. The documents, though heavily redacted, include communications regarding ICE’s social media pilot programs referenced in the September 2017 Inspector General report, and information about the agency’s work with data mining firm Giant Oak. 

  2019

• May 17 – The Acting Secretary of Homeland Security, Kevin K. McAleenan, issues a memorandum outlining restrictions on DHS collection of information relating to First Amendment protected activities, specifically with respect to U.S. citizens and green card holders. The memorandum provides that DHS personnel may collect information on First Amendment protected activity in situations including “when that activity is relevant to the granting or denial of a pending application.” 
   
• August 30 – DHS’s Privacy Office issues a Privacy Impact Assessment addressing the process by which USCIS officials access social media information when conducting certain background, identity, and security checks. The assessment expands USCIS authority to use fictitious social media accounts that conceal a user’s government affiliation in order to review the social media activity of applicants for asylum and immigration benefits, though employees are still prohibited from friending, following, or otherwise interacting with applicants. 
   
• September 4 – DHS issues a proposal, citing EO 13780 (the March 2017 Muslim Ban executive order), to collect social media information from applicants for immigration benefits, including adjustment of status, naturalization, and asylum status, as well as from Visa Waiver Program and Electronic Visa Update System (EVUS) applicants. EVUS is an automated system that Chinese nationals with a 10-year visa must use to facilitate their travel to the United States. The proposal, which represents a significant expansion of the program begun by DHS in 2016, seeks to ask all applicants – an estimated 33 million people per year – to provide social media identifiers used in the past five years. While the field is “mandatory,” applicants are not required to submit their social media identifiers to receive a benefit. However, “failure to provide the requested data [social media identifiers] may either delay or make it impossible for CBP [or USCIS] to determine an individual’s eligibility for the requested benefit.”
  • November 4 – The Brennan Center and a coalition of 41 civil, human and immigrant rights organizations submit comments to DHS in opposition to the proposal. 
     
• November 19 – The Brennan Center and a coalition of 39 civil society organizations send a letter to DHS expressing concerns about the Department’s social media screening of travelers at ports of entry and requesting that DHS clarify and release materials concerning its policies on assessing travelers’ social media activity. 
   

• December 5 – The Brennan Center, along with the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP, files a lawsuit on behalf of two U.S. based organizations that collaborate with filmmakers around the world, Doc Society and the International Documentary Association (IDA), challenging the State Department’s dragnet requirement that nearly all applicants for U.S. visas register on their application forms the social media identifiers they have used over the past five years. The lawsuit also challenges DHS’s subsequent retention and dissemination of those identifiers. More information about the lawsuit can be found here. 

  2020

• February 10 – DHS issues a notice to allow 30 additional days for public comments regarding the September 4, 2019 proposal to collect social media identifiers that applicants for immigration benefits used in the prior five years. 

  2021

• January 20 – As part of Presidential Proclamation 10141 rescinding the Muslim and African ban, President Biden directs the Secretaries of State and Homeland Security, in consultation with the Director of National Intelligence, to conduct a review of the use of social media identifiers for screening and vetting purposes. A report containing the review’s findings is to be provided to the president by May 20, 2021. The Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University later filed a lawsuit regarding a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for documents relating to the proclamation, but the report was never produced. 
   
• April 2 – OMB rejects DHS’s September 4, 2019 proposal to collect social media identifiers on travel and immigration forms, concluding that DHS “has not adequately demonstrated the practical utility of collecting this information” and noting that the Muslim ban, which was used to justify the proposal, had been rescinded. 
   
• November 18 – DHS issues a notice and request for comments on a proposal to require people applying for visa-free travel to the U.S. through ESTA to disclose­ their social media iden­ti­fiers. DHS issues a corresponding notice for EVUS applications. 

2022

• February 23 – DHS reopens the comment period on its proposal for mandatory disclosure of social media identifiers on the ESTA application for 30 days. A corresponding notice is posted for the EVUS proposal.
  • March 25 – The Brennan Center and EPIC submit a comment opposing DHS’s request to collect the social media identifiers of millions of people applying for visa-free travel to the U.S. 
     

• April 1 – DHS publishes an interim final rule for implementation of ESTA requirements, expanding ESTA to noncitizens intending to enter the United States under the Visa Waiver Program at land ports of entry. It had already been implemented for air and seaports of entry. This phases out the I-94W form and continues the policy of requesting social media identifiers from all Visa Waiver Program participants. Comments are solicited until May 2, and the rule becomes effective on that date. 

  2023

• May 26 – Following an OMB review of DHS’s February 23, 2022 proposal to require the disclosure of social media identifiers on ESTA applications, DHS drops the requirement. It is now “optional and will be clearly labeled as such.” OMB has neither approved nor rejected the corresponding EVUS proposal.
   
• June 27 – DHS issues a notice that the Electronic Visa Update System (EVUS) system of records will store social media identifiers disclosed by EVUS applicants.  

2025

• January 20 – President Trump issues Executive Order 14161 directing the re-establishment of “a uniform baseline for screening and vetting standards and procedures, consistent with the uniform baseline that existed on January 19, 2021, that will be used for any alien seeking a visa or immigration benefit of any kind.” 
   
• March 5 – Citing Executive Order 14161, USCIS issues a notice proposing to collect social media identifiers from individuals seeking immigration-related benefits. This proposal is estimated to cover 3.6 million people.
  • May 5 – The Brennan Center submits comments to USCIS urging it to reject the proposal. 

2017

• May 4 – The Department of State issues an emergency notice to increase screening of, and information collection from, a subset of applicants for immigrant and nonimmigrant visas, including requiring disclosure of social media identifiers for the five-year period prior to the visa application. As justification, the notice cites a presidential memorandum that employs language nearly identical to President Trump’s March 2017 Muslim ban.
  • May 18 – The Brennan Center, along with 34 other civil and human rights organizations, submits comments to the State Department expressing opposition. The letter argues that the proposal is excessively burdensome and vague, is apt to chill speech, is discriminatory against Muslims, and has no security benefit.
  • May 23 – The Department of State’s Emergency Notice is approved, authorizing collection of social media handles for 180 days. 
     
• August 3 – The State Department issues a 60-Day Notice of Proposed Information Collection: Supplemental Questions for Visa Applicants. The notice seeks to make permanent the collection announced in May and invites public comment.
  • October 2 – The Brennan Center and a coalition of 48 civil society organizations submit comments raising objections to the State Department’s proposal. 

2018

• February 23 – Following public comment, OMB approves the continued collection of social media identifiers from a subset of visa applicants proposed on August 3. 
   
• March 30 – The State Department issues a proposal to collect biographical information from individuals seeking nonimmigrant visas and invites 60 days of public comment. Collected information would include, among other things, social media identifiers used by the applicants during the five years preceding the date of application. The collection would impact an estimated 14 million respondents per year. The State Department also issues a notice proposing to collect social media identifiers on the “Electronic Application for Immigrant Visa and Alien Registration,” which would impact an estimated 710,000 applicants per year.
  • May 29 – The Brennan Center and 56 other organizations submit comments to OMB urging the State Department to withdraw these proposals.
     
• August 28 – The State Department reissues the March 30 proposals to collect social media information on immigrant and nonimmigrant visa applications, allowing for 30 additional days of public comment.
  • September 27 – The Brennan Center sends a letter to the OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) urging it to reject the proposals. 

2019

• April 11 – OMB approves the State Department’s March 2018 proposal to collect social media identifiers from immigrant and nonimmigrant visa applicants. 
   
• May 31 – The State Department updates its immigrant and nonimmigrant visa application forms to begin collecting social media identifiers from nearly all foreigners applying for visas to travel to the U.S. – some 15 million travelers per year. 
   
• December 5 – The Brennan Center, along with the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP, files a lawsuit on behalf of two U.S. based organizations that collaborate with filmmakers around the world, Doc Society and the International Documentary Association (IDA), challenging the State Department’s dragnet requirement that nearly all applicants for U.S. visas register on their application forms the social media identifiers they have used over the past five years. The lawsuit also challenges DHS’s subsequent retention and dissemination of those identifiers. More information about the lawsuit can be found here.

2021

• January 20 – As part of Presidential Proclamation 10141 ending the Muslim and African ban, President Biden directs the Secretaries of State and Homeland Security, in consultation with the Director of National Intelligence, to conduct a review of the use of social media identifiers for screening and vetting purposes. A report containing the review’s findings is to be provided to the president by May 20, 2021. The Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University later filed a lawsuit regarding a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for documents relating to the proclamation, but the report was never produced. 
   
• February 5 – The State Department proposes to cease the collection of social media identifiers from a subset of visa applicants—put into place on February 23, 2018—because the collection has become duplicative with the collection from nearly all visa applicants.
  • May 11 – OMB approves the proposal. 

2025

• March 6 – The State Department launches the “Catch and Revoke” initiative, which will reportedly leverage artificial intelligence to screen visa holders’ social media for undefined “pro-Hamas” activity. To carry out Catch and Revoke, the State Department will work in conjunction with DOJ and DHS. A State Department official described the initiative as a “whole of government and whole of authority approach." 
   
• March 26 – Secretary of State Marco Rubio issues an internal cable ordering consular officers to refer “certain student and exchange visitor (F, M, and J) visa applicants to the Fraud Prevention Unit (FPU) for a mandatory social media check” to look for factors including a “hostile attitude toward U.S. culture.” The cable emphasizes “terrorism-related ineligibility grounds of the Immigration and Nationality Act” and instructs consular officers to store screenshots of social media profiles as evidence. 
   
• April 9 – USCIS announces that it will begin considering certain non-citizens’ antisemitic activity on social media “as grounds for denying immigration benefit requests,” citing Executive Order 14161 and Executive Order 14188. The order targets “endorsing, espousing, promoting, or supporting antisemitic terrorism, antisemitic terrorist organizations, or other antisemitic activity,” but does not otherwise define “antisemitic activity,” and will immediately affect “aliens applying for lawful permanent resident status, foreign students and aliens affiliated with educational institutions linked to antisemitic activity.”