Pretty much any country can search you at their borders if you’re seeking to cross in, yes (there may be some special cases—I’m not sure that an EU citizen crossing from one EU country to another is normally subject to search), but most countries only do that at border checkpoints, or if you’re caught crossing illegally. “More than an hour’s drive away from the border is still the border” is not the law in most places, as far as I know.
Chatting in Chinese? (I think that’s what we’re seeing. Blocky characters + application on the right with what looks like a speech bubble in its lower toolbar.)