In a handful of known cases, large social media companies have privately pushed back against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) subpoenas when the agency tried to unmask anonymous users who tracked immigration activities or criticized the government.
As ICE engages in
a pattern
of illegal and chilling investigations, any resistance is welcome. But
social media companies can do more
. When companies receive these unlawful subpoenas, they should be clear with the public that they will not hand over the data unless a court compels them to do so. In addition, companies themselves can take the government to court to challenge these unlawful subpoenas on behalf of their users.
ICE has sent hundreds of subpoenas to large technology companies like Google, Meta, and Reddit.
Publicly challenging these unlawful subpoenas in court has the dual purpose of protecting individual users who may lack the resources or know-how to challenge a subpoena on their own, while also discouraging ICE from issuing similarly unlawful subpoenas in the future.
Companies have a responsibility to protect the privacy of their users. That responsibility does not end simply because companies wish to avoid the ire of this administration—which has sought to chill other powerful institutions like
news outlets
,
law firms
,
universities
, and
non-profits
.
ICE Has Issued Many Unlawful Subpoenas
ICE has
sent hundreds of subpoenas
to large technology companies like Google, Meta, and Reddit seeking basic subscriber information like name, email address, IP address, and session times.
Some of these subpoenas have targeted people who engaged in protected activity—like tracking immigration actions, criticizing the government, or attending a protest. People have a First Amendment right to document law enforcement activities and criticize the government online, without retaliatory government investigations. This right has become more important as immigration agents have engaged in
inv
