Claim: US Embassy in Banjul says all visa applicants must adjust social media privacy settings
Source: What’s on Gambia platform (Facebook)
Verdict: Misleading
Researched by Mariama Fatty
A popular Facebook page, What’s On Gambia, in a post dated June 23, 2024 claimed Gambians applying for United States of America visas, were required to adjust the privacy settings of their social media accounts, following new guidelines announced by the US Embassy in Banjul.
The post shared by What’s On Gambia read: “Did you see the announcement by the US Embassy in Banjul? Effective immediately, all individuals applying for visa are requested to adjust the privacy settings on all of their social media accounts to ‘public’ to facilitate vetting necessary to establish their identity and admissibility to the United States under U.S. law.”
“Meaning you should not lock your Facebook or Instagram account when applying for US visa. Lerr na?” the post added.
FactSpace Gambia observed that many commenters expressed dissatisfaction and deemed the directive a violation of their rights.
Fact-Check
Per our checks, the June 23 US Embassy statement did not state that all visa applicants must submit or make their social media accounts public. Instead, the directive applied to the F, M (non-immigrant students), and J (exchange visitors) only.
“Effective immediately, all individuals applying for an F, M, or J nonimmigrant visa are requested to adjust the privacy settings on all of their social media accounts to ‘public’ to facilitate vetting necessary to establish their identity and admissibility to the United States under U.S. law,” a relevant portion of the message read.
From the full list of US visa categories on the Department of State website, only three visa applicant categories are mandated to make their social media accounts public. The F, M and J non-immigrant applicants are as follows:
| Category F applicants | Category M applicants | Category J applicants |
| F = Students | M = Vocational Students visa | J = Exchange visitors visa |
| F-1 = Academic students F-2 = Dependents of F-1 students | M-1 = Vocational Student visa M-2 = Dependents of M-1 |
The Embassy statement also addressed another directive on a Presidential proclamation by President Donald Trump on June 9, 2025 “suspending or limiting entry and visa issuance to nationals of certain countries.”
Verdict
The Embassy statement was directed at only three classes of US visa applicants, not all of them; therefore, the post by What’s On Gambia is misleading.
NOTE: Mariama is a member of the 2025 cohort of FactSpace West Africa‘s Volunteers Project (Members of the cohort were selected from Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Liberia and The Gambia.)
