U.S. Customs to start scrutinizing your Twitter and Facebook handle

If you wish to travel to the US in the coming days then be careful of what you post on your social media accounts like Twitter and Facebook.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection wants to start collecting the social media accounts for foreign travels entering or leaving the country, to help the agency scour for what it calls “possible nefarious activity and connections.”

A proposal entered into the Federal Register on Friday would add an optional question to traveling forms: “Please enter information associated with your online presence — Provider/Platform — Social media identifier.” The question would appear on arrival/departure papers for non-citizens at the border, and on the electronic forms for travelers entering America on a visa waiver.

“Collecting social media data will enhance the existing investigative process and provide DHS greater clarity and visibility to possible nefarious activity and connections by providing an additional tool set which analysts and investigators may use to better analyze and investigate the case,” the proposal said.

The proposal, however, does not specify how exactly Customs would screen the screen names. The screening process currently includes several database checks, as well as interviews and fingerprinting.

The public has 60 days to comment on the plan — by writing to the agency's Washington, D.C. office — before it is formally considered.

The motion comes after officials worldwide have called for stronger social media surveillance in an age of global terrorism.

After the ISIS attacks in Paris last November — which terrorists planned through encrypted chats — the FBI, NYPD and the French government demanded better oversight on online extremism. Those calls were echoed after the terror attacks in San Bernardino and Orlando — both committed by militants who were radicalized online.