AI screening of J1 students' social media 'prone to error', says Irish-American lobby group

For students, the five-year look back on their social media will reach back to their early teens and could lead to treating youthful social media activity before maturity as some form of a security threat to the US, the group said. File picture

A prominent Irish-American lobby group has hit out at the new requirements for J1 visas, and raised fears that artificial intelligence screening of social media accounts will be “used extensively and is prone to error”.

The Ancient Order of Hibernians said it had “deep concerns” over the US Government directive requiring a review of up to five years of social media activity for every J1 visa applicant, which gives consular officers “broad discretionary authority”.