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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Comment
Emma Beddington

Let Donald Trump see inside my phone? I’d rather be deported

Young shocked woman using mobile phone at the airport.
‘Women express horror at imagining their ChatGPT prompts or Notes app being scrutinised.’ Photograph: Posed by model; Drazen Zigic/Getty Images

As someone with a child in the US, this new Trump threat to scrutinise tourists’ social media is concerning. Providing my user name would be OK – the authorities would get sick of scrolling through chicken pics before they found anything critical of their Glorious Leader – but what if I have to hand over my phone at the border, as has happened to some travellers already? I would rather get deported.

There’s nothing criminal or egregiously immoral on there; I don’t foment revolution or indulge in Trump trolling, tempting as that would be. But my phone does not paint a flattering picture of me. Does anyone’s? Those shiny black rectangles have become contemporary confessionals, and we would like to believe they abide by the same kind of confidentiality rules.

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