Weekly civic intelligence report ยท v2.2
Tourists from 42 countries will have to submit 5 years of social media history to enter the US under a new Trump administration plan. This represents a significant expansion of surveillance and vetting requirements.
Constitutional damage score 33.8 driven primarily by civil_rights (4.5) - mandatory social media disclosure creates chilling effects on free expression and association, establishes warrantless surveillance infrastructure, and discriminates based on national origin. Rule_of_law (3.5) reflects expansion of executive immigration authority without clear statutory basis for such invasive data collection. Separation (2) for executive unilateralism in creating surveillance regime. Policy_change mechanism with federal scope yields 1.3x and 1.15x modifiers. Severity multipliers: durability 1.15 (administrative rule can persist), reversibility 1.05 (technically reversible but creates precedent), precedent 1.2 (normalizes social media surveillance for government access). Distraction score 24.2 from high outrage potential (privacy invasion, Trump immigration policy) and strong media appeal, but substantive constitutional implications prevent this from being mere distraction. D-score +9.6 places this solidly on List A - real constitutional harm with some hype amplification but not primarily diversionary.
Monitor implementation details: What platforms must be disclosed? How is data stored/shared? What are denial criteria? Track legal challenges on First Amendment (chilling effect on speech/association), Fourth Amendment (warrantless search), and equal protection grounds. Assess whether Congress authorized this level of invasive screening or if this exceeds statutory authority. Document scope creep if program expands beyond stated 42 countries or if collected data is used for purposes beyond visa adjudication.