The U.S. Embassy in London asks Visa applicants to make their Social Media accounts public




Wednesday, June 25, 2025 - The U.S. Embassy in London, United Kingdom announced on Monday on social media that “Effective immediately, all individuals applying for an F, M, or J nonimmigrant visa are requested to adjust the privacy settings on all of their social media accounts to ‘public’ to facilitate vetting necessary to establish their identity and admissibility to the United States under U.S. law.”


While the request does not violate a specific U.S. law, critics argue it may infringe on privacy rights under the Privacy Act of 1974 or free speech under the First Amendment.


Former Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) responded to the announcement by writing: “This is UNACCEPTABLE AND INSANE.”


Former British soldier Shaun Pinner replied to Kinzinger: “JD Vance says ‘Europe has problems’ while the U.S. slides into authoritarianism. What’s next for foreigners? Yellow star-shaped badges to show we’re not American? We’ve seen this before.”


In February in the Oval Office with President Trump and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Vice President JD Vance warned Starmer: “We also know that there have been infringements on free speech that actually affect not just the British - of course what the British do in their own country is up to them - but also affect American technology companies and, by extension, American citizens.”

Starmer replied to Vance that the UK “wouldn’t want to reach across U.S. citizens, and we don’t, and that’s absolutely right.” He added, “But in relation to free speech in the U.K. I’m very proud of our history there.”

The nonimmigrant visas mentioned are for individuals coming to the U.S. to study or participate in exchange programs. The F visa is for academic students, the M visa is for vocational students, and the J visa is for exchange visitors.

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