Response to “misinformation” allegation.

It was recently brought to our attention that FAC was “called out” in a YouTube video for allegedly posting an article containing misinformation. While we don’t want to link to the YouTube video and give it unnecessary promotion (especially since he likened FAC to QAnon), we did want to acknowledge this person’s opinion and briefly respond to the general allegations.

The accusation was that THIS ARTICLE on International Travel contained material misinformation and that it’s author didn’t verify sources.

While we appreciate constructive criticism, we want to assure our members that this writer absolutely did verify sources and investigate claims before we shared them.

We absolutely have received an increase in reports of people having difficulty traveling internationally and if you follow RegistrantTag.org’s Travel Matrix (RegistrantTAG is an independent organization) you can verify that the list gets frequently updated, with more doors closing than opening.Naturally we don’t employ auditors who test entry restrictions on behalf of registrants, but we do have a member-base of more than 2000 individuals and communicate with other advocacy groups, so when three or four completely independent people report to us that they were prevented from entering into a certain country within a short time period, we’re going to share that information with our members, even if it’s anecdotal. (And, we’re not going to disclose our member’s identities or share personal details to “out” a registrant.)

The individual calling us out also suggested that it defies common sense that the US has agents blocking travel at both the domestic departing and international arriving airport. We have absolutely confirmed that individuals (including those NOT on probation) have been prevented from boarding international flights because documentation was shared with us.  As far as having agents outside the country, the US Department of Homeland Security themselves acknowledges that they have HSI Attaché/CBP facilities at airports abroad. They also acknowledge their IAP program and even put out a fact sheet on it!

Look, at the end of the day this writer has no incentive to report misleading information. FAC wants all people to travel the world freely, not be prevented from doing so. If someone felt so strongly about one of our posts that they were compelled to make a video dissecting it, the least we can do is let them know their concerns were acknowledged and assure them that we did our homework.