What are your rights as a Canadian if asked by a U.S. border agent to see your social media?

Vehicles approach the United States border crossing as seen from Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle, Que., Thursday, April 10, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes (Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press)

The news that some travellers visiting the U.S. might soon be asked to share personal things like social media and email accounts has left many Canadians unsettled about what could happen at the border.

A notice published Wednesday in the U.S. Federal Register said U.S. Customs and Border Protection advises collecting five years’ worth of social media information from travellers from some countries that don’t need to get visas to come to the U.S. It’s the latest move by the Trump administration when it comes to monitoring international travellers and immigrants.

But one immigration expert says the move is part of a continuing trend that’s been in place for decades.

How is Canada affected?

Benjamin Green is a senior associate at Green and Spiegel LLP, law firm based in Toronto that specializes in immigration services.

He said the advisory specifies that social media history will be an explicit search for those who need visas to enter the U.S. Canadians are visa-exempt.

However, U.S. border officials are able to ask to search the contents of cellphones, so while Canadians aren’t directly impacted by this change, it can be helpful to be aware of the existing policies.

New requirements aren’t exactly new: lawyer

Green says in a lot of ways, the possible requirements aren’t anything new, but it’s making people more aware of the sorts of questions they can expect in a more confrontational situation at the border.

He explained to CTVNews.ca on Friday that when Canadians travel to the U.S., they don’t need a formal visa in their passport, unlike countries such as China, India and many others.

Since social media assessment is happening in those interviews for a travel visa, the only place for Canadians to have that is at the border.

“These are some questions that came up last year when people started being questioned for their phone and laptop (at the border),” he told CTVNews.ca “But the truth is, that has sort of been the policy for the last 20 years, it just doesn’t happen as often as maybe it’s happening right now.”

Should you wipe your phone?

Some travellers who are heading south of the border are choosing to wipe all social media apps from their phone, or travel with a burner phone, to avoid being flagged. But Green said sometimes that can be a red flag in itself to border agents.

“If I’m an officer and I see somebody has a wiped phone or a phone without social media or without any personal emails, that doesn’t scream to me, ‘Wow this is somebody who has nothing to hide.’ This screams to me that it’s somebody with something to hide.”

Green said the reality is that hundreds of thousands of Canadians can travel to and from the U.S. with no problems every day.

“This type of a search only happens in a larger, cascading series of events. On a given entry, you’ve said something that makes an officer question some things and on and on until they’re pulling you into secondary (screening) and looking at your phone,” he said. “But the average person, as long as it’s calm, cool and collected, it’s largely business as usual.”

It’s also important for Canadian travellers to know that they have the right to refuse to show border officers their phones or laptops, though they should expect to then be refused entry.

“It’s still a border, you don’t have the right to go to the United States, that’s only for American citizens,” said Green. “So if you refuse a search, you should expect that you’ll be refused entry.”

With files from the Associated Press