A Palestinian student who was refused entry into the US before starting classes at Harvard University has now been allowed into the country.

Ismail Ajjawi, who had been living in Lebanon, was refused entry into the US after landing at Logan International Airport in Boston on August 23. The 17-year-old believes he was refused entry because of political social media posts shared by his friends.

US officials would not confirm that he was refused entry because of the social media posts, with spokesman Michael McCarthy saying only that the decision to cancel Ajjawi’s visa was based on information discovered during an inspection.

Officials also did not explain why Ajjawi had been refused entry at first but later admitted into the country.

US federal agents detained Ajjawi at the airport for eight hours, searched his cellphone and laptop, and questioned him about his friends’ social media posts, according to a written statement Ajjawi gave to The Harvard Crimson, the student newspaper.

“I responded that I have no business with such posts and that I didn’t like, share or comment on them and told her that I shouldn’t be held responsible for what others post,” he wrote to the Crimson about his interaction with a federal agent.

Searches of electronic devices and social media at the border were done under previous US governments, but free speech groups complain that there have been a lot more since President Donald Trump took office in 2017.

In June 2019, the US added new rules which mean that nearly everyone applying for a visa must provide their social media usernames, previous email addresses, and phone numbers.

As a teenager, Ajjawi made headlines in Lebanon for being a top scorer on primary and secondary school exams. “I want to become a doctor because there are a lot of things in medicine that have not been discovered yet,” Ajjawi told a station in Lebanon earlier in 2019.

In a statement, Ajjawi’s family thanked the thousands of people who sent messages of support. They added that they hoped their son could now focus on his studies.