The Trump administration has reversed a ban in order to give U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services officers permission to create fake social media profiles with the purpose of spying on international applicants, but at least one social media company has already said it would be a violation of their platform’s rules.
“A USCIS statement explaining the change says fake accounts and identities will make it easier for investigators to search for potential evidence of fraud or security concerns as they decide whether to allow someone entry into the U.S,” the AP reported. However, Facebook said “law enforcement authorities, like everyone else, are required to use their real names on Facebook and we make this policy clear on our public-facing law enforcement guidelines page. Operating fake accounts is not allowed, and we will act on any violating accounts.”
Twitter did not offer a similar statement, but in response to the initial report on the USCIS changes said that “it is against our policies to use fake personae and to use Twitter data for persistent surveillance of individuals,” and “we look forward to understanding USCIS’s proposed practices to determine whether they are consistent with our terms of service.”
The administration is also seeking the change just days after a 17-year-old Harvard freshman was denied entry to the U.S. over a social media posts he didn’t even author, but were instead posted by friends. Ismail Ajjawi was interrogated by Customs and Border Protection officials for hours and deported. Just days ago, the administration reversed course, and allowed Ajjawi to return just in time to start school. There was no explanation from the administration about why they backtracked, or what the posts even were.
“Mike German, a retired FBI agent and a fellow in the Brennan Center for Justice’s Liberty and National Security program said it’s important for strong guidelines to be in place and for lawmakers to ask lots of questions to ensure there are no abuses.” But that would require cooperation from an administration that has defied Congressional authority on everything from subpoenas to how many people immigration agencies can detain.