Nick Adams, the US Presidential Envoy for Tourism, insisted on Friday that the social media vetting has "never been implemented" for tourists.
The discussions come after the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) reported in April that while the US remained the largest Travel & Tourism market in the world in 2025, it is losing market share. US visitor numbers declined 5.5% against 2024, and international visitor spending fell 4.6% to US$176 billion, the WTTC found.
Adams, a native of Australia who is now a naturalized US citizen, was appointed to the Envoy role, a new position, by Trump in March. He has set a goal of 100 million international visitors to the US per year by 2030.
Ireland's Travel and Trade Network reported in February that, according to the US Department of Commerce, 490,632 people visited the US from Ireland in 2025, compared to 494,344 in 2024.
Speaking to both Newstalk and RTÉ Radio in Ireland on Friday, Adams offered the same message - that "99.9% of people that come to the United States of America as tourists, as travellers, are going to encounter an entirely seamless experience."
Both outlets asked Adams about the social media vetting that Irish tourists may encounter when traveling to the US.
"It has never been implemented," he said.
"All of the perceptions that are out there that you're going to travel to the United States, that you're going to be detained, that your phone is going to be confiscated, that your social media is going to be poured over, that you're then going to be placed on a plane and returned to where you came from - all of that is just not true," Adams said on Newstalk.
"No social media policy like that has ever been implemented."
On RTÉ Radio, Adams was keen to correct the "perception" about foreigners being detained by ICE in the US.
"I can tell you that 99.9% are going to have a seamless experience," Adams insisted.
"And, for anyone that is concerned about it, here's my advice: Go and speak to a friend, go and speak to a neighbor, go and speak to a work colleague who has recently been to America, and ask them, 'Were you detained? Was your phone confiscated? Was your social media pored over?'"
Adams said "you're not going to find" a person who had experienced that, arguing that the "number is so infinitesimal, and it's no different to any previous administration."
He said: "I've looked at the data and the number of people that had their social media checked that are coming in [to the US], it's no different to the Biden administration, the first Trump administration, or the Obama administration."
When asked about applicants being asked to disclose their social media history on ESTA applications, Adams said: "It has never been implemented."
US Visa Waiver Program & ESTA
Ireland is a part of the Visa Waiver Program, which means Irish citizens and nationals can travel to the US for tourism or business for stays of up to 90 days without obtaining a visa.
However, tourists must have a valid Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) approval before travel. The current ESTA application form has an optional section where applicants can list their social media.
The optional question about social media was added to the ESTA application form in December 2016, during the final weeks of the second Obama administration.
US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) says the information found in social media "will enhance the vetting process and may be used to review ESTA applications to validate legitimate travel, adjudicate VWP ineligibility waivers, and identify potential threats."
If there is possible information of concern or a need to further validate information, social media provides "timely visibility of the publicly available information on those platforms, consistent with the privacy settings the applicant has chosen to adopt for those platforms, along with other information and tools CBP officers regularly use in the performance of their duties."
Last December, CBP proposed adding social media as a mandatory data element for an ESTA application, which would require ESTA applicants to provide their social media from the last five years. The proposal is still under review.
US visitor visas
Those who prefer to have a visa while traveling to the US can apply for a visitor visa, which is for people who want to enter the US temporarily for business (B-1 visa), for tourism (B-2 visa), or for a combination of both purposes (B-1/B-2 visa).
These visas require the completion of the DS-160 form.
In June 2019, during the first Trump administration, the US State Department announced that the nonimmigrant visa online application form (DS-160), the paper back-up version of the nonimmigrant visa application (DS-156), and the online immigrant visa application form (DS-260) were updated to collect the applicant's social media identifiers.
The social media information, the State Department said at the time, will be used for identity resolution and to determine whether the applicant is eligible for a US visa under US law.
Last June, the US State Department announced that under new guidance, it would be conducting a comprehensive and thorough vetting, including online presence, of all student and exchange visitor applicants in the F, M, and J nonimmigrant classifications.
To facilitate this vetting, all applicants for F, M, and J nonimmigrant visas will be instructed to adjust the privacy settings on all of their social media profiles to “public," the State Department said.
The move was described by Ireland's Taoiseach Micheál Martin as "excessive."
In March of this year, the vetting was expanded to include applicants in all A-3, C-3 (if a domestic worker), G-5, H-3, H-4 dependents of H-3, K-1, K-2, K-3, Q, R-1, R-2, S, T, and U nonimmigrant visa classifications.
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