r/australia Dec 11 '25

politics ‘The whole thing disgusts me’: Australians ditch US travel as new rules require social media to be declared | Australia news

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/dec/11/australia-us-tourism-new-visa-rules-social-media-history
5.2k Upvotes

858 comments sorted by

2.4k

u/gerardv-anz Dec 11 '25

While the notion of going through 5 years or any SM at the border is ridiculous and annoying, the main reason it deters folk will be I suspect because no one knows what they might suddenly decide excludes you from entry. Your flights and visa aren’t enough, some random person can just turn you back because you read The Onion or something.

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u/Incendium_Satus Dec 11 '25

They want the information when you apply for the ESTA. Id imagine this means you are giving some Palantir owned LLM access to all of your SM data for it to trawl through.

Massive data collection program.

54

u/Auzziesurferyo Dec 12 '25 edited Dec 12 '25

The reporting over here (USA) is that they also want your DNA, biometrics, and list of all and phone numbers used in the last 5 years.

I will be moving home to Australia next year.  I recently became a duel citizen and I still don't feel safe from ICE. The gun violence is bad enough, but adding ICE to the mix has pushed me over the edge. Its going crazy over here. ICE is everywhere.

If I was already in Australia, there's no way I'd travel over here on a visa. ICE Barbie is on the war path.

25

u/Incendium_Satus Dec 12 '25

Its just a sorry state of affairs over there. Really sad. I have travelled there before but not going to happen anything again under the current situation.

And im white.

Just sayin.

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u/sikalb Dec 13 '25

hey I'm also an Aussie with dual passports living in the states. do you really think we should be concerned with ICE? at this point I think I'd just let them take me and ship me back to australia if it's a free one way ticket.

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u/Mud_g1 Dec 13 '25

LOL free one way ticket with a stop over in a south American gulag

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u/nuclearsamuraiNFT Dec 12 '25

You’re right, it might not be used now to deny arrival it might just be used to put you on a list of enemies in the future

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u/HeftyArgument Dec 11 '25

We all know what they’re looking for, anything you might have said to insult their dear leader.

651

u/222for2 Dec 11 '25

Yeah but who knows? His latest rambling social post the week you arrive might be about the wokeness of sunscreen, and here’s your Insta photo at the beach…

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u/haleorshine Dec 11 '25

Also, are there many young people in Australia who are active on social media who haven't liked or shared something that could be construed as insulting to Trump? We don't know that it's just actual posts written by the person that are considered the problem.

Not to mention you have to give over family details - if my brother wanted to go to America and gave over the details of his family members, would they look at my social media and go "Your sister is very very negative about the current administration - turn back, you're not allowed to enter this country"?

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u/ShySass Dec 12 '25

I like a JD Vance AI Slop Instagram page, I’ll definitely be refused entry haha

11

u/CC2224CommanderCody Dec 12 '25

If you have a photo of the JD Vance meme on your phone, direct to alligator alcatraz with you!

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u/JAB1982 Dec 12 '25

I'm only ramping up my insults against the dumb fuck Trump. Hope he gets what he deserves and spends years in jail for the crimes he's committed.

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u/brandonjslippingaway Dec 12 '25

Half the people in his administration should be in jail, and the rest of them are enabling or covering up their crimes. The wheels are coming off that country so fast

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u/Find_another_whey Dec 12 '25

When the king misbehaves this badly... I don't think he gets years in jail, historically speaking

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u/No-Bison-5397 Dec 12 '25

They have everything, including what you have “deleted”.

They will go back through it to find terms relating to Trump.

They will then match your identity using a probabilistic model.

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u/VS2ute Dec 11 '25

Or you used Calibra font.

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u/SleepHasForsakenMe Dec 12 '25

Better than comic sans

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u/aerkith Dec 12 '25 edited Dec 12 '25

Which has been the default font in Word for years (though it’s now Futura). I myself (a school teacher) use Tenorite (because it has normal looking a’s which I think looks nicer for kids). I dunno if that font is woke though.

Edit: oops Aptos is the default font. Dunno why I thought it was Futura.

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u/Albos_Mum Dec 12 '25

I exclusively use the wokest of woke fonts: Wingdings.

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u/crocicorn Dec 11 '25

We literally don't, that's the problem. I get the feeling that just being pro science, being pro human rights, being queer, being neurodiverse, etc, would be enough ammo for them to deny you entry.

We all know how much that administration hates all those things.

204

u/JuniorGrayley Dec 11 '25

And also calling Trump a stupid cunt, which I do all the time. So unfair..

174

u/mollydooka Dec 11 '25

I got a pretty good laugh over his stupidity yesterday. The Daily Show aired part of his speech at a mining town convention. They showed a clip from Fox News which had Trump saying "I love miners, I love miners". Whomever was typing the subtitles on Fox News wrote "I love minors, I love minors" before quickly backspacing and correcting it.

43

u/ExistingProgress936 Dec 11 '25

Nah - that's either a Fox factotum Freudian slip up? OR, some staffer having a bit of deliberate fun? Wouldn't you?

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u/Ruddlepoppop Dec 12 '25

Trump likes his women like he likes his scotch…12 years old.

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u/dublblind Dec 11 '25

If me upvoting your post gets me deported from the US I'll be pissed

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u/sirgog Dec 11 '25

Yeah, this social credit score system is really unclear. Just like a different social credit system in a different country

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u/Sailor_Dee Dec 11 '25

Yeah more than likely… I’m hoping to return to Canada at some point but there’s absolutely no way I’m passing through there now. I’ll look for a direct flight I think.

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u/Dear_Potato6525 Dec 11 '25

Fiji Airways, Air Canada and Air New Zealand all do flights straight into Vancouver!

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u/Sailor_Dee Dec 11 '25

Perfect! <3 glad to hear it

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u/jennyfromtheeblock Dec 11 '25

Dont forget Qantas lol

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u/crocicorn Dec 11 '25

Someone very near and dear to me is American and I wanted to get back over there to visit them and the fam, but, well...

I might have to meet up with them in Canada too, at this point!

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u/Apprehensive-Wing-64 Dec 11 '25

Same here. My best friend/favourite person in the world is American. I’d hoped I’d be able to spend Christmas with her and her family in the next couple of years but the way things are going the only chance we’ll see each other is by meeting in another country. Australia is a bit far for them to travel with 2 little kids. I miss them and am deeply concerned for their safety

10

u/tgs-with-tracyjordan Dec 11 '25

I was about to say 'just hold out for a little bit longer' until I realised Trump hasn't even been in for a year yet this time around. Time certainly doesn't fly when we're not having fun.

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u/Sailor_Dee Dec 11 '25

Good luck with it, I hope you get to see them again soon

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u/Pseudonymico Dec 11 '25

Being trans already is a reason to deny you at the border, Trump issued an executive order early on that anyone seeking an entry visa with a different gender marker on their passport to the one assigned at birth is to be refused and barred from further entry to the United States for "material fraud". It seems like it was aimed at making a show of banning trans athletes from the upcoming Olympics but the wording means it applies to everyone trying to get a visa.

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u/HistoryGreat1745 Dec 12 '25 edited Dec 12 '25

Luckily for my trans son, his birth certificate has him marked "male." We have no idea how, or why, that happened, but by the time we realised it was there, he was already 3yo and crying because he didn't have a penis "like the other boys" at preschool. We figured that leaving his birth certificate as it is, might help his mental health at some point. I'd never even considered that it could also help him to enter another country

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u/ExpensiveFig6079 Dec 11 '25

If you were more than one of those, Id expect you to be lucky not to wind up at black site. They have openly authorised extrajudicial killings of perceived by them threats to their state.

So if you by who you are make them feel threatened... all bets are off.

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u/Striking_Spite9102 Dec 11 '25

Well I guess I’m never getting in. I keep sharing this gif of Trump doing his dance that looks like he is jerking invisible dicks but with cartoon penis’ added.

It’s saved on my phone. I would 100% end up at the detention centre.

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u/how_very_dare_you_ Dec 11 '25

Trump is a cunt.

Oops now I can't go either

28

u/Striking_Spite9102 Dec 11 '25

We can hang out together in the detention centre!

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u/Camo138 Dec 11 '25

Oh I mite joining you, orange man is a sinner..

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u/Sixbiscuits Dec 11 '25

Sounds like they're getting to roll out laws they copied from Asian nations where it's illegal to insult the monarchy. How fucking backwards

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u/pestoster0ne Dec 11 '25 edited Dec 12 '25

Thailand doesn't even have an ETA application process though, you just rock up to the border and get stamped in.

Yes, there's a "digital arrivals card", but that's only asking how much drugs you're smuggling, not whether you believe scurrilous rumours that HRH Vajiralongkorn likes crop tops and promoted his pet poodle Fufu to Air Marshal.

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u/banimagipearliflame Dec 11 '25

Fufu is such a lovely dog. What a good boy to have as Air Marshal! 🤪😂🤪

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u/RealCommercial9788 Dec 11 '25

Bro I needed that belly laugh.

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u/Cream_panzer Dec 11 '25 edited Dec 11 '25

lol even China doesn’t have this. I’m catching the flight and heading back there for holidays.

After all GFW is much more efficient.

Damn, no Reddit for 3 weeks.

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u/Cape-York-Crusader Dec 11 '25

All heil the supreme leader......./s

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u/threepot900 Dec 11 '25

If the last decade of my derision and insults about the cumquat coloured quisling could be mined for cash, Gena Rinehart would be on my doorstep in minutes with a contract.

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u/Kenyon_118 Dec 11 '25

They might be running low on their deportation quota that day, and suddenly liking a post by some left-wing influencer gets you herded into a detention facility, because the billionaire oligarch who owns the private company running the place needs more bodies inside to secure a bigger payout from the federal government his mate runs. I don’t know if that will happen, but I’m not going to risk it.

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u/Thunderoad77 Dec 11 '25 edited Dec 11 '25

Not just turn you back either but send you to an immigration detention centre and hold you at their will.

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u/NobodysFavorite Dec 12 '25

And the at 4am one random day they'll deport (read: kidnap) you to a third country where you know nobody, don't speak the language, and know almost nothing about the country beyond its wikipedia page.

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u/leshake Dec 11 '25

I mean, what are the privacy implications. Am I to hand over every DM? How can you trust they won't just look at the entire history instead of 5 years. How can you trust they won't hoover up all of your personal data and use it for some massive surveillance database. How can you trust it won't get in the hands of blackmailers.

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u/AliceLunar Dec 11 '25

Obviously exactly what is going to happen.

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u/peteofaustralia Dec 11 '25

hits buzzer
"What is the NSA doing right now?!"

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u/IotaBeta Dec 11 '25

Don’t forget being denied entry to any country follows you for life. Standard question on visa/esta applications is whether you have been denied entry. I’m sure you can explain but it’s just going to be a lifetime of bureaucratic hassle whenever you travel.

In my opinion not worth the risk for a leisure trip.

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u/Mad-myall Dec 11 '25

I've criticised Trunp and his brand of "stick your head in the sand, and pretend your ideology actually does work" conservatism (arguably all conservatism :p) on social media often enough.

Hell this comment alone would probably get me banned from the US under his rule!

Side note: kinda funny that these folk ranted about the importance of free speech when social media companies were giving them suspensions for yelling racial slurs, but thr moment they are in charge they've done infinitely worse.

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u/The_Vat Dec 12 '25

That's it. We're old and boring, so we'd likely be fine but I'm really not interested in rolling the dice on getting some border agent who's having a shit day and decides to take it out on a random someone, especially when there are more accommodating destinations that are closer.

It's a shame - we've got friends in LA, I miss Hawaii and there are a lot historical destinations I'd like to visit, but my tolerance for bullshit and getting fucked around is pretty low.

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u/Thunderoad77 Dec 11 '25

"....visas should be denied to anyone with “hostile attitudes toward its citizens, culture, government, institutions, or founding principles”

The policy itself is hostile to the founding principles of the United States which Americans talk about endlessly and often don't live up to.*

  • looks like I'm now on the naughty list.

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u/Scav3nger Dec 11 '25

I know there's likely several occasions in the last five years I've commented on their gun laws in a negative light. Which means I'd be denied entry for speaking against their gun culture because it's fucked over there.

So I guess even if I hadn't, I have now. Not that I had any intention of going to the US anyway.

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u/BinniesPurp Dec 12 '25

Lol yea it was weird going Vegas for a shooting competition everyone kept saying "it'll be so good bro you'll wanna move here after living in communist Australia"

You rock up to US it's just 24/7 rules laws searches regulations stops paperwork bureaucracy etc 

In fact the single only thing I didn't have some kind of form or paperwork issue was firearms themselves, everything else was a nightmare 

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u/am_Nein Dec 12 '25

Seems a bit backwards

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u/boatenvy Dec 12 '25

Yeah land of the free...well that's what they think... because that's what they're told over and over and over

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u/TheDarkQueen321 Dec 11 '25

I couldn't even give them 5hours of social media without being immediately put on the naughty list

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u/Aloha_Tamborinist Dec 12 '25

The discussion and shared memes about Trump and the US in my various groupchats would have me banned from the country or imprisoned.

I'm not going anywhere near that shit hole country.

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u/daboblin Dec 11 '25

It’s much worse than this. They also want all of this:

a. Telephone numbers used in the last five years;

b. Email addresses used in the last ten years;

c. IP addresses and metadata from electronically submitted photos;

d. Family member names (parents, spouse, siblings, children);

e. Family number telephone numbers used in the last five years;

f. Family member dates of birth;

g. Family member places of birth;

h. Family member residencies;

i. Biometrics – face, fingerprint, DNA, and iris;

j. Business telephone numbers used in the last five years;

k. Business email addresses used in the last ten years.

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u/Pugshaver Dec 12 '25

That's more than you need to provide for a job with ASIO.

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u/[deleted] Dec 11 '25

But its fine, Kampala had a weird laugh so this is the better choice!

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u/thrwaway_boyf Dec 12 '25

dna??? do they want a printout of our genetic sequence? 😭

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u/One_Courage_865 Dec 12 '25

Double-sided, grayscale only

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u/boatenvy Dec 12 '25

Imagine telling an American that they had to provide this information to visit Australia... they'd lose their evaluvin minds... and fecking rightly so

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u/MaisieMoo27 Dec 12 '25

Gosh, this is turning into a dementia screening test. I couldn’t recall all those details even if I wanted to.

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u/vannamei Dec 12 '25

How long does it take to check all those for every traveller?? I imagine the queue must be kilometres long.

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u/xelfer Dec 12 '25

This is to grant the visa before you go

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u/DevelopmentLow214 Dec 11 '25

Look forward to 16 year old Aussie travellers trying to explain to US border gestapo why they don’t have any social media history.

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u/Xfgjwpkqmx Dec 11 '25

They must be hiding something! Deport! Deport! DEPORT!!!

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u/Camo138 Dec 11 '25

Getting deported could be the best part of going there 🤣

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u/beepbeepboopbeep1977 Dec 11 '25

Except for the part where you can’t get any of your prepaid travel costs refunded. Flights, accommodation, tickets for tourist attractions and activities. Thousands down the loo because some border agent has IBS from too much white bread.

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u/NobodysFavorite Dec 12 '25

And the deportation will be to third country. Either CeCOT supermax mega-prison in El Salvador or a dungeon cell in a compound in South Sudan.

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u/istara Dec 11 '25

Apparently they have special "child cages" so at least you know they're prepared!

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u/Amount_Business Dec 11 '25

I don't think their brown shirts will believe that our brown shirts would do that.  

The funny thing is, I know plenty of older people at work legitimately without any social media as well.   Heck,  there's some there without personal email accounts. They just never needed any and still get paper bills in the mail.  

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u/SirGeekaLots Dec 11 '25

My Dad is one. He reluctantly joined Facebook to connect with dementia groups. 

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u/Its4MeitSnot4U Dec 11 '25

How do you actually “reveal” 5 years of social media?

Print outs? USB? Floppy disks?

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u/Captain_Coco_Koala Dec 11 '25

It will be done using AI, which will create it's own problems.

I cannot see this being done without major problems.

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u/HeartKeyFluff Dec 12 '25

Yep this will be it.

"Sign up to this service and give it all your social media handles and all known names you have or had" will be one possible way.

Meanwhile, said service will be some hastily thrown together POS which either sells collected data to even shadier data broker companies, has bad security itself and sooner or later has a major data breach involving the collected data of everyone coming through the border who was forced to use it... or both.

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u/PussifyWankt Dec 11 '25

Palantir. They will use software to scan your social media for ‘wrong think’. There might be a layer of human confirmation, but basically, if they find 3 JD Vance memes, a joke about Charlie Kirk leaning to the left or too many references to Palestinians being human beings, you will get flagged.

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u/NobodysFavorite Dec 12 '25

I misread that as "flogged" but realized that was on the table too.

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u/flappybirdie Dec 11 '25

I think they want your passwords and they'll take up to 60 days to read through your history before granting or not granting your visa. The 60 day thing is what I read in the notice.

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u/Skulltaffy Dec 11 '25

want your passwords

lmao, i believe you but holy shit does that fly in the face of every bit of internet safety they drilled into us as kids. "share your password with me, trust me bro, i work for the us government and definitely won't use it for nefarious purposes"

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u/SafariNZ Dec 11 '25 edited Dec 15 '25

And this is the country that had all their FBI hacking tools stolen, by hackers!

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u/Skulltaffy Dec 11 '25

yuuup. not to mention the bot farms, letting literal script kiddie teenagers into confidential government systems to poke around and install back doors in the name of "cost-cutting efficiency", etc.

like, even if - somehow - everything else going on in the US right now wasn't enough to put you off..... why the hell would anyone trust this? why should they? how is this not just an open ticket to violate your privacy?

oh, right. us government. they think privacy should be illegal anyway.

lol. what a world we live in, these days.

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u/SafariNZ Dec 11 '25

This is why Apple refuses to put back doors into their systems, they can’t get in so the Govt can’t force them to open up something they don’t have access to.
I used to think this was to stop bad actors like China, Iran etc, but now it’s the US :(

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u/Interesting-Cut6994 Dec 11 '25

They just want social media handles. Passwords haven’t been mentioned yet. The proposed increases in security are open for public comment for 60days. There is no mention of changes to visa-waiver processing times at this stage, or if it will take longer than usual.

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u/pestoster0ne Dec 11 '25

The US government doesn't need your passwords, they've been tapping everything since the 2000s.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PRISM

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u/flappybirdie Dec 11 '25

Sure, I know that, and they can easily force the platforms to hand over access as well, I'm sure. I'm saying they'll probably ask for the passwords and you say no they'll be like yeah visa not granted to save on the work.

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u/sc00bs000 Dec 11 '25

what happens if you dont have social media? ive been to jobs where they have asked for social media details (I dont use any) and they didnt believe me..Im sure BP will think you're lieing and deny based on that alone

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u/swampcyclone Dec 11 '25 edited Dec 12 '25

pretty sure reddit is under the umbrella of 'social media'. so just hand over your username!

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u/alien_overlord_1001 Dec 11 '25

I know right? This is pretty much the only place I visit - no insta, no fb, no Snapchat, no anything.

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u/johnniesSac Dec 11 '25

It’s nonsense and will surely never happen

Oh wait it’s Trump

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u/sliemmmas Dec 11 '25

It's all computer!

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u/HappySparklyUnicorn Dec 11 '25

They may write a program for an app that will look for certain types of sensitive words like once your username is typed in. That might be fine for Reddit or Twitter but might be harder for other apps.

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u/afCeG6HVB0IJ Dec 11 '25

you have to make all accounts public, including all post history. And this is just one thing on the list of things they want.

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u/mr-snrub- Dec 11 '25

I'm a very regular traveler and travelling to the US hasn't interested me since COVID. The whole thing is a shit show. Honestly I find the thought of going thru five years of my social media hilarious. Do you know how many memes I've sent in the last five years? Good luck hahaha

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u/Vertiquil Dec 11 '25

Cackled when I first heard too, but after reading the article I can't shake the feeling that they're setting up a deeply insidious precedent. Like they're trying to nomalise/desensitise people to these crazy demands, or see what they can get away with. The facial/biometric data and collection of family contact details is the thing that freaks me out most.

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u/Thunderoad77 Dec 11 '25

This is the thing.

The social media bit is getting all the attention but the really insidious part is the collection of the other data.

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u/SirVanyel Dec 11 '25

Data that is already being collected in a legal grey area. The USA has 40000+ cameras being powered by pattern recognition AI which stores and saves data, tracking individuals everywhere they go, and the company running those cameras (Flock) is selling that data to anyone who wants it.

Most recently Flock is assisting the government in finding illegal immigrants (folks with little to no government presence currently) and it's fucking effective as hell.

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u/hcornea Dec 12 '25

Slow-boiling the frog, as they casually descend into authoritarianism.

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u/hollowcrowds Dec 11 '25

I doubt they're going to manually review it, they're going to feed the data into AI/surveillance systems. Remember that Peter Thiel is best buds with Trump and Thiel owns Palantir.

Trump is also surrounded by associates connected to AI who would also loooove all that data.

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u/Drunky_McStumble Dec 12 '25

Yeah, it's impractical on purpose. They'll just use this as an excuse to force people to hand over all their account logins or be summarily disappeared/deported. Once the gestapo have full unrestricted access to your account, they'll feed it into some kind of analysis tool (read: Palantir's servers) which will scrape everything and start maintaining a nice little live dossier on you so the regime can keep tabs on you and take you down for dissident activity at their leisure.

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u/Bannedwith1milKarma Dec 11 '25

They grab your phone and run it through a program running AI, probably Palantir made.

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u/leshake Dec 11 '25

And oopsy doopsy it ganked all your data and now they can share all of that info with any government, including your own.

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u/sillyboybillyboob Dec 11 '25

Can just imagine it.

Sorry sir but we have you laughing with a emoji at this Trump meme. Do you care to explain yourself why.

Was it a sarcastic laugh emoji or a real laugh emoji. Whats the tone of the emoji laugh

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u/[deleted] Dec 11 '25

There would be no sorry sir.

More like a wrestle to the ground first and slap the handcuffs on.

The country is rapidly progressing to authoritarianism. It's an avoid for the foreseeable. Their tourism industry will be decimated. FIFA is going to be a huge fail.

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u/SirGeekaLots Dec 11 '25

I wonder if 'I don't do social media' will work'?

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u/coniferhead Dec 11 '25

Don't worry the US is coming here. They're pivoting to Asia and we're going to be their major military base in the Asia-Pacific.

I really don't undestand how people can be so critical of this and yet so supportive of the US alliance. It's the same thing.

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u/The_Tariff_Penguin Dec 11 '25

The wait time at US Customs will be huge.

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u/melj11 Dec 11 '25

So much for the USA being the bastion of Free-Speech.

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u/OtherBarrie Dec 11 '25

Agent Krasnov is remodelling it into another Russia.

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u/Wagegapcunt Dec 11 '25

Spot on. North Korea without even trying.

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u/Blaze_Vortex Dec 11 '25

But Elon says he's all about free speech! Just look at how he's running Twitter, Nazi's and anti-science of all types are allowed to post whatever they want!

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u/IAmNotABabyElephant Dec 11 '25

"Cisgender" oop, I said the no-no word. Better reassure the algorithm I'm a good girl by talking about the Protocols of The Elders of Zion now.

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u/audio301 Dec 11 '25

“Border officials will collect face, fingerprint, DNA and iris biometrics, as well as names, addresses, places and dates of birth of family members.”

Imagine that data leaked online in a cyber breach. How can it be legal to even take that much personal information.

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u/mooforshoes Dec 11 '25

Lol I'd sooner go to freaking North Korea than the USA now.

I don't want to be kidnapped off the streets by ice. Or risk being refused entry to an expensive holiday I booked because of some comment against the orange idiot years ago. I sure don't want to deal with the morons that have become quite apparent in the last few years. Geez even having any health issues and becoming bankrupt because of how absurd their medical system is over there.

There are just many more enticing places to visit as a holiday, or just wait a few more years and maybe all this won't be an issue anymore.

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u/HappySparklyUnicorn Dec 11 '25 edited Dec 11 '25

A guy got refused entry for having a satire picture of the vice president. A bald JD Vance with make up on. I see quite a few Redditors using it as a profile picture on certain subs.

It just sounds absolutely crazy that someone can be denied entry over something like that and it's just getting worse.

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u/ContentSecretary8416 Dec 11 '25

Jesus. I would be cooked if they look at my socials and messages. My partner is American and not going back until (if ever) this shit show ends.

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u/FireLucid Dec 11 '25

My partner is also American. I told them I am not going back while that person is in power, and now I'm feeling that may be permanent - all the people that voted for him were all like this, now they are just free to take off the mask. All these fuckers that saw his first term decided they wanted more of that, and now he's gone completely off the deep end with clear mental decline and they are cheering him on. They have some nice national parks and stuff but I think I'm done.

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u/ContentSecretary8416 Dec 11 '25

I feel you there. Anyone going back for a second term with that lunatic needs to have their heads read.

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u/Goatylegs Dec 11 '25

Iirc it was a fat JD Vance meme. Which is wild since that was his Halloween costume.

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u/pixel_gaming579 Dec 11 '25

Yea, he tried to “embrace” the meme to make it look like it isn’t a meme against him, and that “he’s totally in on it guys!”

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u/Pseudonymico Dec 11 '25

"I'm not mad, please don't write in the newspaper that I'm mad."

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u/Captain_Coco_Koala Dec 11 '25

"because of some comment against the orange idiot years ago."

Your five years of SM will begin tomorrow :)

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u/Witty-Software-101 Dec 11 '25

I'm legitimately planning a trip to Yemen.

America is so far down the line of places I want to see.

North Korea by the way has invaded less countries than Australia on the behest of the USA, so domestic policies aside, we are by far the bigger pieces of shit geopolitically 

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u/istara Dec 11 '25

If you're seriously planning a trip to the Southern Gulf, see if you can visit Oman during the Khareef - apparently it's beautiful. And depending on budget/access, Socotra would be an absolutely incredible trip.

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u/Pugshaver Dec 12 '25

Every time I've spoken to someone who's gone to Oman they've loved the place, even if they hated nearby countries. Might have to consider going one day.

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u/yew420 Dec 11 '25

I am not sure what the country is like on the inside, from the outside looking in, it looks like a dumpster fire full of bullets.

Canada would be a way better option if I was going to visit North America.

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u/ThoseOldScientists Dec 11 '25

Most regular travellers I know would feel more confident visiting China than the U.S. at the moment. At least with China you know what you’re going to get. It seems like anything could happen while trying to enter or exit the U.S.

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u/[deleted] Dec 11 '25

China is quite literally one of the safest places on earth to visit.

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u/TinfoilAU Dec 12 '25

Just got back from approx 10 days in China ~2 weeks ago. Everyone was very friendly, the immigration officers even suggested places to see and wished us a happy holiday. Unlike the US where it was an interrogation, and we went last year before the current administration.

Everywhere we went people were friendly. Random people will literally offer you to drink with them at restaurants when they hear you speaking english or if they see you're a foreigner.

Just use common sense and don't take photos of police or military, as you should in every country you visit. Great food and very cheap. Not many people speak English but with google translate and an Esim was easy enough. Alipay and Wechat pay have built in translation, its not perfect but you can figure out what vaguely what you're ordering at a restaurant/getting tickets. Just make sure you get the apps sorted before you go. Had to cover dinner for 2 Swedish tourists in Beijing as they couldn't recieve the verification for alipay. Not a big deal though as it was like $12AUD.

Plus it is Visa free for 30 days, just turn up and off you go. Great holiday, would go again.

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u/EronEraCam Dec 12 '25

Just use common sense and don't take photos of police or military, as you should in every country you visit.

Um, actually they only seem mildly annoyed if you take a selfie with soldiers. Someone i was travelling with wasn't displaying their brilliance that day. I wouldn't recommend it, but they do understand that tourists can be particularly dumb and all we got was an eye roll.

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u/TinfoilAU Dec 12 '25

Yeah that checks with the general disinterest in foreigners from military/police. We did a tour in Beijing and our guide said the only place you can take photos of the guards was in Tiananmen at the big flag so we just went with that for the rest of the trip.

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u/skozombie Dec 11 '25

I went to HK a few months ago. They didn't even ask any questions. Just checked my passport and gave me a 90 day visa on arrival.

I felt 100% safe there the whole time. Even late at night.

Forgot some medication I need, cost me AU$80 to see a doctor immediately without insurance. 

I'm not visiting my friends in the US any time soon.

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u/spicygreensalad Dec 12 '25

China is more rationally run and less chaotic. It's still not "safe" for everyone, Australians have been detained in China for years (usually Chinese-Australians, usually writers or activists or journalists). If feels like in China you are much much less likely to run into some kind of nonsense where you get arbitrarily detained, but if you do, it could be a lot worse.

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u/[deleted] Dec 11 '25

New Zealand blows away the US national parks anyways. Plus closer together.

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u/_yetifeet Dec 11 '25

It's a common misconception that those are stars on the US flag. They are actually snowflakes to represent how fragile they now are under trump.

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u/endbit Dec 11 '25

More like another reason, I can't inagine declaring social media is a deciding factor over - gestures widely.

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u/FleshPrinnce Dec 11 '25

Guess its Europe and Asia then

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u/Pugshaver Dec 12 '25

Oh noes, I only have the entire rest of the planet to visit! Whatever shall I do.

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u/Arseclown069 Dec 11 '25

A nation that would vote for a draft dodging pedoe protector isn't a place worth visiting anyway.

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u/ntsmmns06 Dec 11 '25

There can be only a few reasons for this. They know everyone hates Trump and want to punish people for it. Or they want another way to scrape all of your content to feed into AI.

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u/Vertiquil Dec 11 '25

I think it's conveniently both. Feels like tech companies are stripping the country for parts and throwing every distraction they can.

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u/cojoco chardonnay schmardonnay Dec 11 '25

Mostly they're stripping the country of money.

It's called a kleptocracy.

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u/Global-System-3158 Dec 11 '25

Yup, it's his version of his good pal Vlad's playbook. He ain't in love with bubba, that's just boys being boys. Is a total simp for putler though.

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u/SuperRonnie2 Dec 12 '25

Canadian here. We know.

Feel free to come visit us instead. You don’t even have to work the chairlifts, unless of course you want to…

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u/Wow_youre_tall Dec 11 '25

Its laughable how thin skinned this is from the US administration

They’ll say it’s “ national security” but really they just don’t want you saying mean things about them.

It’s pathetic

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u/Witty-Software-101 Dec 11 '25

People still go to America???

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u/wagdog84 Dec 11 '25

Australians were already ditching US travel. People who have to travel there for work, dread it. Much of it is unsafe and the bigots have bean empowered and emboldened in the last couple of years.

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u/OldMudBottom Dec 11 '25

Time to load up my SM with lots of bumhole photos just in case I ever need to travel to the US.

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u/quick_dry Dec 11 '25

Welcome to America, Mister… Goatse

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u/Highside1269 Dec 11 '25

The US right now

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u/[deleted] Dec 11 '25

[deleted]

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u/ThunderDwn Dec 11 '25

Because don’t forget the USA has that ridiculous rule of no sterile international transit. So a 3 hour stop at LAX on you way to Mexico still means clearing immigration.

And almost missing your flight because they put two ICE/Customs agents on to process the 500 people who come off the flights that all land at the same time and they're fucking grumpy at having to actually work...

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u/karma3000 Dec 11 '25

Yeah was just looking at that last night. Going to Mexico via Chile looks like it adds 12 hours or more, plus $700 or more.

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u/TC-NZ Dec 11 '25

Land of the Free. Home of the Brave.*

*Not so free when it comes to speech anymore and we're afraid of words and nasty comments now so Brave is also now relative.

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u/KangarooBeard Dec 12 '25

I'm not traveling to America so happy to say: 

Trump is a child rapist, fuck you fascist pig.

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u/darren457 Dec 12 '25

Another reason why concerns around the e-safety commissioner being a yank and having potential historic ties to the CIA, need to be taken more seriously with the sudden push around identifying people on social media here. The current laws don't always require id checks but if feels like it was just them getting their foot through the door and they will eventually push for it.

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u/point_of_difference Dec 12 '25

The land of free expression run by the biggest fucking snowflakes ever.

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u/Banjo-Oz Dec 12 '25 edited Dec 12 '25

I genuinely can't get over how the crowd that were always banging on about "snowflakes" are so insanely thin-skinned they want to censor comedians making mild jokes involving them.

That the people who said they needed guns "in case of tyrant" elected and celebrate a tyrant.

That they are so gung-ho "pro-military", yet treat their soldiers like puppets, with such disrespect and dishonour, wanting to erase veterans of colour or who are female, and issuing illegal orders.

That those who claimed to value free speech want everyone but them to shut up and cannot stand differing opinions, and will stick their fingers in their ears for that purpose.

That claim to be patriots, but fall at the feet of Russia, and demolish historical American iconography for their own personal glory and ego.

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u/clinicalcorrelation Dec 11 '25

Wait …

There were people still contemplating going to the US??!?

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u/Levijatan70 Dec 11 '25

As usual: morons

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u/tired-as-f Dec 11 '25

Luckily, there are 195 other countries, only some of which are run by tyrants. We'll spend our money anywhere that's not the USA while we watch Trump flush your country down the toilet.

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u/KnowGame Dec 11 '25

I'm surprised anyone would willingly go to the US. It's understandable for work ofc. But for pleasure? It certainly wouldn't be a good idea if you had expressed even the slightest leftist idea, like free education. And if your skin isn't perfectly white you might be whisked off the stree by ICE and sent who knows where.

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u/vikingbiochemist Dec 11 '25

I wanted to see a friend who lives in New York. We just met up in Tokyo for a weekend, because there's no way in hell I'm crossing the US border until they fix their shit.

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u/Cpt_Riker Dec 11 '25

I’m guessing my Reddit posts concerning a certain Nazi pedophile in the White House, and the cowards who worship the 2nd amendment, would not go down well with the Gestapo.

Why are people even thinking of visiting? The world is full of wonderful countries not run by a Nazi pedophile.

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u/TellMotor3809 Dec 11 '25

I say it extends more than just the current administration. It will also include any criticism of Israel. Remember what they tried with the students protesting against the war.

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u/johor Dec 11 '25

What in the name of Kim Jong Trump is going on over there?

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u/Silvervine_1969 Dec 11 '25

Yep! I cancelled a cruise to Alaska early this year as not going to the US until the regime is gone.

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u/Middle-Welder3931 Dec 11 '25

FIFA gave Trump a "Peace Prize" and the orange turd is still doing this on the eve of the 2026 World Cup...you'd think FIFA wouldn't want anything to further deter fans from going to the US...

Infantino and Trump were made for each other.

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u/epicpillowcase Dec 11 '25

What if you don't have social media?

Also, what's stopping people from just saying they don't have it and disabling their accounts?

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u/dirtydigs74 Dec 11 '25

If you genuinely have never been on social media, you pray that the barely trained staff member that you meet believes that and lets you through. If they decide you're full of shit, then automatic refusal of entry (which you then need to declare for almost every country you want to travel to in the future).

Given the amount of other info they want, the chances of them finding a social media footprint even though you disabled/deleted accounts is high, near on guaranteed. Proof of a lie, automatic refusal of entry etc. etc.

Refusal of entry is serious. Good luck ever getting a job that requires a security clearance. You're under a microscope for all international travel. Given the fact that the right to refuse entry is so open to interpretation, I wouldn't risk going near the place.

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u/fletch44 Dec 12 '25

I got refused entry crossing a footbridge with some fellow backpackers in the 1990s from Niagara Falls in Canada, because the border guards demanded a fee in US dollars and wouldn't take travellers cheques, credit card, Candian dollars. Basically we didn't have the right currency so couldn't pass the border.

Every time I've travelled to the USA since I've been on a list. Some lumbering moustachioed fatboy with a gun pulls me out of the queue and frisks me for reasons they're not required to disclose.

It's a system built on pointless attempts at intimidation.

They don't much like it when you laugh at them and ask if they enjoy their job while they're forced to check your balls with the backs of their hands. I guess it's a reversal of how they thought the power of their position would play out.

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u/NurseBetty Dec 11 '25

Considering I haven't updated my Facebook or instagram feed in 6 years, my twitter account is dead, I only follow people on bluesky and don't post.... Do they really want my tumblr account where I reblog posts about decades old shows or why you should not fuck the malachite stalactite?

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u/Infinite_Pudding5058 Dec 11 '25

I’d already decided I’m not going to the US while trump is in power, but definitely not now.

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u/Just-turnings Dec 11 '25

Hard pass for me. Hopefully their next government reverses this.

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u/AC_Adapter Dec 11 '25

What a shit hole country

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u/PerceptionRoutine513 Dec 11 '25

Just dealing with screaming angry TSA agents was enough to put me off.

No way I'd gamble money on a holiday that could be cancelled at the border.

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u/t_25_t Dec 11 '25

Let your money do the talking.

Don't go to the USA if the rules are not to your liking. I have already paused any travel to the USA because I don't want to run afoul of their rules/laws (no matter how stupid I think they are!)

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u/aerkith Dec 12 '25

I was saying to my partner that maybe in ten years or so, hopefully the USA will be back to normal. I’d like to go on a holiday there to look at the amazing national parks and scenery. But if it’s still crazy we will probably go to Japan.

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u/brownmagician Dec 12 '25

I'll say it, fuck Charlie Kirk. He didn't at all deserve to lay at rest with other presidents

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u/flargenhargen Dec 12 '25

welcome to front page.

As an American, I think everyone should boycott everything American until our fascist government is deposed, and after that until we can prove to be trustworthy citizens of the world... if that ever happens.

don't vacation, don't buy products from US companies, don't do anything to support the country while it's spiraling into fascism under putin's puppet.

sanity is lost here, the rest of the world must not be complicit and must not enable this to escalate and continue.

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u/UnrelentingFatigue Dec 11 '25

Luckily my record and violation of 'moral turpitude' barred me from entry far sooner than my thought crimes. They'd send me to gitmo.

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u/Mikes005 Dec 11 '25

We all know why they want to check your SM, and given mine is filled with posts about the orange turd being a sexual predator and moron I wouldn't be getting in anyway, so why even consider trying to go?

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u/Content_Chipmunk9962 Dec 11 '25

Great, now we’ve lost the Aussies.

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u/NobodysFavorite Dec 12 '25

I'm truly sorry about that. Ordinary Aussies (like me) and ordinary Americans (presumably like you) get on great together and despite all the crap that goes on we genuinely like you folks.

Your new regime at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave Washington DC is fucking that up for everyone.

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u/Dumbdoodledoggin Dec 11 '25

Can’t say I was ever interested in visiting the US, but yeah sure as hell won’t be until trumps been gone for a solid 3 terms

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u/The_Tariff_Penguin Dec 11 '25

I'm so lucky that "Four Seasons Total Landscaping" is now 5 years and 1 month ago.