Asylum seekers in Switzerland could soon have their social media profiles reviewed as part of their application processes, according to local media reports.
The newspaper ‘NZZ am Sonntag’ reported that Swiss authorities will inspect data from an applicant’s Facebook and Twitter accounts to investigate claims of asylum. A spokesperson for the State Secretariat for Migration told the newspaper that the information published on these sites can cultivate a better understanding of a person’s circumstances.
“From the information that asylum seekers publish on social networks, it may be possible to draw conclusions that may be of importance for the asylum procedure such as references to family relationships,” the spokesperson said in a statement cited by SwissInfo.
A working group has now been established to set down rules around how and under what conditions information on social media can be accessed.
