Tweets prevent two British tourists from entering the US

While it’s common knowledge to be careful about what you say in public, it looks like that practice will have to apply to tweets as well. It has been reported that two British tourists were recently barred from entering the US when Homeland Security flagged them for a couple of insensitive tweets. Instead of being received with open arms when they arrived at the airport, they were greeted by US security, interrogated for five hours, and locked up over night. They were then sent back to the UK the next morning.

The tweets that got them into trouble? “3 weeks today, we’re totally in LA p****** people off on Hollywood Blvd and diggin’ Marilyn Monroe up!” and “free this week for a quick gossip/prep before I go and destroy America? x”. Apparently “diggin’ Marilyn Monroe up” was in reference to Family Guy, an cartoon TV series, while “destroying” is a slang for partying in the UK. Taken out of context, the messages would have probably raised some red flags, but so would a lot of other words. What do you think about the government’s over-reaction to the Twitter messages?