Sarah Awad, who appeared on Netflix’s Outlast: The Jungle, shared a TikTok video of a tense exchange at what appeared to be an airport security checkpoint. In the video, a female officer in a dark uniform, badge, and blue gloves stood at a metal counter and held up a white spiral-bound notebook. The passenger filming the encounter said the officer was no longer just checking the bag. “No, you’re gonna record – you’re reading my notebook. Just find the drugs or find whatever you’re trying to find because now you’re reading something I told you is confidential and I’m being very cooperative,” the passenger said in the video. The passenger asked the officer to flip through the pages instead of reading them. “Just flip through it, like, please. Like, I’m getting real frustrated,” the passenger said, then added, “Flip through it quicker. Like, you’re reading through my stuff. This is actually ridiculous, bro. I’m getting real frustrated right now.” The passenger asked who was in charge as the notebook check continued A male officer off-screen said, “Sir, let me talk to you.” The passenger kept speaking to the officer holding the notebook. “Yo, can you just go do your job? Like, this is private stuff. Can you just flip through it? You can’t be reading my stuff,” Awad said in the video. Airport searches can be frustrating, as one passenger was flagged for a hot sauce bottle. @sarahawad__ Full video no sound #outlastthejungle #validcrashout ♬ original sound – sarahawad__ The passenger then asked, “Yo, like, who is the – who is in charge around here?” The officer appeared to keep turning pages. The passenger said, “Just flip through it. Like, you can find your knife, find the drugs, like, find what you’re trying to find. You don’t have to read my f–king journal.” The passenger said, “I’m being so cooperative right now. I’m being so patient.” The male officer asked, “That’s it? You done?” The female officer replied, “Yep.” As the check wound down, the passenger said, “You can’t take that feather.” The male officer said, “I’m going to ask if it’s okay.” The passenger then said, “Dude, yo, please hurry up.” Commenters on the video argued over what officers can review during a bag search. Separate reporting from AFAR and the Cincinnati Enquirer has focused on phones and other electronics, not paper notebooks. TSA interactions at checkpoints can sometimes escalate, such as when a D.C. man asked California TSA if he could step back through security to retrieve his forgotten car keys. A TSA spokesperson told AFAR, “TSA does not request access to passengers’ electronic devices.” The Cincinnati Enquirer reported that TSA’s role at routine checkpoints is to screen the physical device, including X-ray and explosive-residue swabs, and that officers may ask a traveler to power a phone on if an X-ray image raises questions. Those outlets reported that U.S. Customs and Border Protection, not TSA, can inspect the contents of phones and other devices at ports of entry when travelers enter the United States. CBP Assistant Commissioner Hilton Beckham told AFAR that claims of a sudden jump in device searches after an administration change were false and that CBP’s numbers have tracked increases since 2021. Beckham said less than 0.1 percent of travelers have their devices searched. Afar cited CBP figures showing 47,047 device searches among 420 million arriving international travelers in fiscal year 2024, with 90 percent described as basic manual reviews. The Cincinnati Enquirer cited CBP as saying such searches affected fewer than 0.01 percent of arriving international travelers in fiscal 2025. CBP has said a device that cannot be inspected because of a passcode or encryption “may be subject to exclusion, detention, or other appropriate action or disposition.” Immigration attorney Marina Shepelsky has said travelers are not legally required to share a password, though a phone may be held if it stays locked. Lenni Benson of New York Law School has said privacy expectations are lower at the border and that those reduced expectations can extend up to 100 miles inland. The video Awad posted showed a paper journal, not a phone. But same privacy rules are expected to apply here. Viewers still used the clip to argue about how far a search can go. One commenter focused on the officer’s pace and wrote, “She started reading it slower.” Another repeated a line from the video and wrote, “just find the drugs.” A third commenter wrote, “They don’t have the right to flip through her notebook and read her notes.”