twitterfluechtling

⁸I don't know what data they have at hand to work with, the following is mainly guesswork / how I would do it:

As far as I know, US authorities have quite liberal access to data stored by US companies (due to the cloud act even if the data isn't originally stored in the US), especially in case the data is about non-citizens where some of their protection laws don't hold. Most social media accounts are tied to phone numbers and/or email addresses.

If I was in their place, I'd have a relatively small database with all (or at least all non-US) phone numbers used for social media accounts, with the email addresses tied to those accounts. If a visa-applicant applies and I get their phone number (email address),

1. I'd query a list of all accounts for that number (email) to get the associated emails (numbers).
2. With those new emails (numbers) I'd repeat step 1

If you call the office or enter your number in your application, they might get some accounts. If you associated an email address to that account, they might get additional different accounts by that email. If those different accounts have a different phone number associated to them, they use that new phone number to get more accounts. rinse, repeat.

[Edit: This process would be completely automated, of course. Not manual.]

The consequence of being caught lying might be to get your visa revoked / denied once you are already in the US at the airport, which would be highly inconvenient. Or, if they get suspicious, find something else, and get annoyed, maybe it could even be punished? I don't know.

You could maintain a separate phone with a separate phone number and separate email addresses for accounts you want to keep secret. Or maybe get a fresh phone number / email address just for the trip. But that's quite a bit of effort to maintain consistently.

1. It's not a visa but an ESTA. The visa is still granted on the fly on entry.
2. The U.S. require the same the other way around, only the one granted by the EU is $10 cheaper and valid for 3 years instead of 2, so still U.S. citizens get an advantage
3. EU citizens (like all other non-immigrants) have to, as far as I understand, disclose all their social media accounts when applying for a US visa

Sources for (3):

For VISA applications, https://travel.state.gov/content/dam/visas/Enhanced%20Vetting/CA%20-%20FAQs%20on%20Social%20Media%20Collection%20-%206-4-2019%20(v.2).pdf should apply.

What if applicants participate in multiple online platforms? Are they being asked to list all of their handles, or only one?

Applicants must provide all identifiers used for all listed platforms.

I reached that document via https://www.ustraveldocs.com/de/de-gen-faq.asp#qlistgen21 ("Apply for a U.S. Visa in Germany") and didn't find any hint for exemptions for German citizens or E U citizens, so I assume it applies. (But I might still be wrong.)

Controversial opinion of an atheist:

Most religion is incitement to hate-crimes. While I think Sweden has probably bigger Christian societies and should probably rather burn bibles, the guy burning the Quran is an Iraqi, and therefore choosing the Quran is understandable. Afaik, he protested against his own former repression by Muslim religion whe still lived in Iraq.

Religion is notoriously used to reduce other people's freedom. Be it fundamental Christians e.g. in the US or Poland denying healthcare to pregnant women, be it the atrocities committed by the "moral police" in Iran, be it other religions killing people for their sexuality. I support the idea that religious law should be limited to followers of that religion, and no person should be forced in any way to follow or keeps following any religion. Those are fundamental human rights principles in my eyes.

Most religions try to impede the rights even of nonmembers of that religion. That is disrespectful as well. Burn any book or other goods you want, if you want to protest any of my convictions. TuX-puppets, books about string theory, the FSM, my national flag, I don't give a shit as long as you own those things and you don't physically harm others.

He's consolidated the military under the MoD umbrella,

Has he? He lost capable military leaders from Wagner, and those forced to fight alongside Russian troops fight now alongside troops which bombed them before. I hardly imagine there is much trust or comrades between Russian military and Wagner troops.

his comradery with Lukashenko likely improved,

It strengthened Lukashenko.

the West is admitting that Ukraine is running out of ammo (thus the cluster ammunition)

... which has nothing to do with the attempted coup

and he (or rather Lukashenko) has a strong private army close to the Ukrainian border, about 90km from Kiev

It really depends if that army still fights for Putin. The smear-campaign against Prigozhin wouldn't make sense in this scenario.

Putin looks like messing about, trying to make the best of the situation, with no clear plan. He looks weak, and maybe worse, plan-less.

Well, most animals are plant-based...

So, the two conflicting armies of Russia shooting at each other, the minister of defence not anticipating this although he instigated it, the president running away, both (minister and president) not addressing the nation in a speech for 3 days after the incident, and the revolutionary leaving on his own account without suffering any substantial losses?

The Russian army bombarded Wagner camps, starting the whole affair, Wagner shot down helicopters of the Russian army during the march. Do you think that will strengthen the ties between Wagner troops and the Russian army to cooperate better in the future? Wagner didn't face any notable resistance the first cities they passed through, and that is a show of strength for Putin? Yeah, no. I don't think that makes much sense, sorry.

Putin will have to go full berserker mode now to portrait some strength, make an example of the mayors of those cities, axe the minster of defence for being obviously incompetent here, and arrange a polonium-tea or something for Prigozhin. And while this might help him save his face as strong leader, it will probably lead to more resistance from others.