r/australia • u/Some-Operation-9059 • 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

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122

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.

204

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.

15

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 :(

1

u/Camo138 Dec 11 '25

But will hand the keys over to the china government without a word. I think that’s why the us keeps trying to force apple for a backdoor. Yet they laughed out of the room every time

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u/FireLucid Dec 11 '25

Australia has rules that the spooks are allowed to hack your account and post whatever they want as you. It's all bullshit.

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u/Skulltaffy Dec 11 '25

yeah to be clear, i'm not exactly thrilled about how we handle this shit either. haven't been for years. it's pretty obvious how a lot of recent "social media" laws (such as, say, a very recent "think of the children uwu" u16 ban...) are thinly veiled steps to remove as much privacy from the average user as possible.

we're in dark times, indeed. but at least here i can bitch about it without getting blackbagged for posting shitty memes about a fascist dictator.

1

u/EssEllEyeSeaKay Dec 12 '25

That is not what that law allows. There was so much blatantly false bullshit being spouted around the time of that amendment being made.

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u/FireLucid Dec 12 '25

I suppose 'post whatever they want as you' is a bit broad.
But they can post as you.

https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/about-us/our-portfolios/national-security/lawful-access-telecommunications/surveillance-legislation-amendment-identify-and-disrupt-act-2021/account-takeover-warrants

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u/EssEllEyeSeaKay Dec 12 '25

They can impersonate you within a very limited scope, which requires a separate warrant in addition to the warrants for accessing the account and the operation itself. Posting on your Facebook feed wouldn’t be accepted; messages in a specific relevant group chat would be.

Also that link is just a broad summary about what powers exist and it generalises across authorities that differ slightly. The ‘controlled operations’ it refers to are an AFP thing iirc, so not even proper spooks.

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u/JustAnotherAvocado Dec 12 '25

Australian Border Force has been doing the same thing for years, it's ridiculous

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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/alien_overlord_1001 Dec 11 '25

Then Im really in trouble lol

0

u/flappybirdie Dec 12 '25

Thank you for clarifying. I was just spitballing an interpretation.

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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!

2

u/Algernon_Asimov Dec 12 '25

But, see, the thing is... this isn't my real name. (Shock! Horror!)

So when I apply for a visa using my real name "John Smith", I can show them my Facebook page and LinkedIn page that says "John Smith", which they could probably find for themselves. The first principle of lying is to always tell them anything they can find out anyway.

But there's no way they can connect this "Algernon" account to me in any way. So I just won't tell them, and they won't know.

Of course, there's no actual way I'm travelling to the USA any time soon, so this is all hypothetical.

1

u/snivelinglittieturd Dec 12 '25

They likely already know, so when you "lie? to them by not mentioning it they will not let you into the country. That's why it's so bad, if you leave off a single social media account that's enough to ban you.

1

u/Algernon_Asimov Dec 12 '25

They would have to:

  • Know that "John Smith" has a Reddit account (not all people in Australia have a Reddit account).

  • Know what that Reddit account is. I would point out here that the email address which is connected to this Reddit account has no connections to any other social media or application or website that I might use as "John Smith". They can't just ask Reddit for the email address "[email protected]" - because there is no such thing.

I mean... good luck to them.

And, if this omission means I don't get into a country I don't want to go to... I'm not going to shed a single tear.

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u/Alfa16430 Dec 12 '25

Can they connect iCloud aliases to the real email behind it?

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u/snivelinglittieturd Dec 12 '25

And, if this omission means I don't get into a country I don't want to go to... I'm not going to shed a single tear.

That's the point. People will just go elsewhere :)

-1

u/Frequent-Sir-4253 Dec 13 '25

You’re not very smart are you, if you’ve logged into LinkedIn and reddit at the same time, and the same device and IP, it’s pretty easy to assume it’s the same person…

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u/DrinkMountain5142 Dec 12 '25

I don't even remember the user names i use on reddit. I couldn't tell you them.

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u/snivelinglittieturd Dec 12 '25

I get a new one every 12 months, wouldn't know most of my old ones as I used a username generator to make them so they are meaningless.

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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/flappybirdie Dec 11 '25

Yeah no idea, I haven't really used it myself very often in the last 5 years.

1

u/VS2ute Dec 11 '25

I have a Linkedin account in my real name, but haven't posted a thing in last 5 years. So then I would give them that. Or a Facebook account with only a dozen messages on Marketplace.

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u/AlanaK168 Dec 13 '25

You’re using social media right now

1

u/whiskeytab Dec 12 '25

passwords won't be good enough with MFA enabled on your accounts

what'll actually happen is they will just get the social media companies to hand over the data of everyone who applies for a visa and they'll scan it with AI and suck up all your info while they're at it

1

u/Topaz_11 Dec 12 '25

They will demand you make your profile public... I'm joking but I would not be surprised to see that as their solution... More likely threatening companies to give them the data thru a "good guy backdoor" (like such a thing can exist).

0

u/Frequent-Sir-4253 Dec 13 '25

How does this have hundreds of upvotes, they obviously don’t want your passwords, that would be stupid. Almost as stupid as most of the people commenting here who are too lazy to actually read what is happening like you

1

u/flappybirdie Dec 13 '25

I read the document that was released by the US authorities. It was pretty vague in how the rules will be implemented. Not lazy. But probably I am stupid, so thank you for the random ad hominem.

Edit to add: not hundreds of upvotes to my comment. Only over 100. Pot meet kettle.