The Department of Homeland Security has been ramping up efforts to pressure major tech platforms to identify who operates social media accounts that criticise Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), according to The New York Times.
The claim lines up with other recent coverage. Bloomberg previously highlighted five instances in which Homeland Security sought to identify the people behind anonymous Instagram accounts, but later dropped those subpoenas after the account owners filed lawsuits. Meanwhile, The Washington Post has described Homeland Security’s expanding reliance on administrative subpoenas — requests that can be issued without a judge’s approval — in cases targeting Americans.
The NYT reports that a tactic once used only occasionally is now being deployed far more frequently in recent months. The department has reportedly issued hundreds of subpoenas to companies, including Google, Reddit, Discord, and Meta. According to the report, the subpoenas largely targeted accounts without a real name attached and that either posted criticism of ICE or shared information about where ICE agents were operating.
Google, Meta, and Reddit have reportedly provided information in at least some of these cases. Echoing earlier public statements, Google said it notifies users about these subpoenas when possible, and that it challenges requests it believes are “overbroad.”
