Social Media Screening on Foreigners

In an article written by Tony Romm on Politico large companies on the internet wanted to screen foreigners social media accounts to eliminate security threats. Companies including Google, Facebook, and Twitter asked the Obama administration to help them out. The Department of Homeland Security has been contemplating whether to ask foreigners arriving on visas to voluntarily give up their social media accounts and usernames on the forms. Many people of the United States feels that this is violating the freedom of speech online and more importantly intimidating visitors. The senior legislative manager of Access Now, Nathan White, says "'But the process to enter the U.S. is confusing, and it's likely that most visitors will fill out the card completely rather than risk additional questions from intimidating, uniformed officers'". Though what the DHS is asking is strictly voluntary people still feel that their first amendment right is being infringed on. This right, freedom of speech, is one of the unique parts of the United States where people feel that even if it is an order and not a law that is coming close to infringing on their right, they put their foot down hard and are very reluctant to say "yes".