The New York Times (NYT) reported on the 13th that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is pressuring Big Tech companies to identify social media users who monitor or criticize the activities of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). According to the report, DHS has sent hundreds of administrative subpoenas to major tech companies, including Google, Meta (parent company of Facebook and Instagram), Reddit, and Discord, in recent months.
The subpoenas reportedly demanded personal information, such as real names, email addresses, and phone numbers, from anonymous accounts that share the locations of ICE agents or criticize ICE. DHS argued that these measures are to ensure the safety of field agents and that the government has broad administrative subpoena powers.
Unlike regular warrants that require court approval, administrative subpoenas can be issued by the executive branch on its own and were previously used only in the investigation of serious crimes such as child trafficking. However, the New York Times pointed out that under the Trump administration, this administrative subpoena power has been abused to silence criticism of ICE. In September of last year, DHS subpoenaed Meta to learn the identity of the operator of an Instagram account that posted information about ICE raids in California. However, after the ACLU filed a legal action, the agency withdrew the request before a court ruling. A similar situation occurred with the “Mongko Community Watch” account, which shared the locations of ICE agents in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.
In October of last year, Meta notified the operator of the account that, “If no legal objection is filed, the information will be turned over to the government in 10 days.” When the operator filed a lawsuit through the ACLU, DHS withdrew the subpoena within two days.
Attorney Roney noted, “The government is employing a strategy of withdrawing subpoenas once a lawsuit is filed to avoid creating a precedent unfavorable to them. Ultimately, this forces individuals to take the burden of appealing directly to the courts.” Tech companies are taking a cautious approach to the government’s excessive demands for information.
A Google representative stated, “When we receive a subpoena, we review it by balancing the protection of user privacy with fulfilling our legal obligations. Unless prohibited by law or in exceptional circumstances, we notify users, and we reject broad requests.”
This controversy aligns with the Trump administration’s strong anti-immigration stance during its second term. Tom Homan, White House border czar, recently pledged in an interview to build a database of individuals who obstruct or impede ICE’s operations.