DHS subpoenas Google, Meta, Reddit, Discord for information on anonymous accounts tracking, doxing ICE

According to the New York Times, in the past year, the Department of Homeland Security has ramped up its use of the subpoenas to identify some of the anonymous accounts on social media. Requests have gone to Google, Reddit, Discord and Meta, the outlet reported citing government officials, but Discord did not comply with the requests. The Times reported that some of the subpoenas were over accounts which "track or criticize the agency," but did not cite a concrete example of subpoenas made regarding accounts just related to criticism.

DHS sought information on Facebook as well as Instagram accounts that have been posting about and tracking ICE activity in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania near Philly. The account, Montco Community Watch, had been posting in both Spanish as well as English about ICE sightings in June and has solicited tips from its 10,000 followers to notify them about ICE's location to publicly post.

On September 11 last year, DHS requested the name, email address, postal code and other identifying information of the person or people behind the account. At the time, Meta told the Facebook and Instagram account associated with Montco Community Watch, “We have received legal process from law enforcement seeking information about your Facebook account. If we do not receive a copy of documentation that you have filed in court challenging this legal process within ten (10) days, we will respond to the requesting agency with information.”

The account owner of the anonymous ICE watch account notified the ACLU about the subpoena, which later filed a motion in court. DHS lawyer Sarah Balkissoon, who represented the government in the case, said that DHS is “within their power to investigate threats to its own officers or impediments to their officers."

The subpoena, however, was withdrawn two days later. In another case, a subpoena was sent to Meta for information behind an account that had posted about the ICE raids in California. The New York Times did not say if the second example was only for criticism or for tracking and doxing the location of ICE.

Under the Biden administration, social media companies were routinely and secretly contacted to suppress so-called mis- and disinformation. Ahead of the NY Post's expose on the Hunter Biden laptop, the FBI directed Twitter and Meta to be on the lookout for an alleged Russian disinformation campaign involving a purported Hunter Biden laptop. This use of social media to suppress factual information that would have damaged President Biden's 2020 reelection bid was called election interference and social media as well as legacy media outlets had to apologize for suppressing it.

“When we receive a subpoena, our review process is designed to protect user privacy while meeting our legal obligations,” a Google spokesperson said in a statement. “We inform users when their accounts have been subpoenaed, unless under legal order not to or in an exceptional circumstance. We review every legal demand and push back against those that are overbroad.”

The Biden administration also instructed social media companies to limit the reach or suppress users' posts about the inefficacy of the Covid vaccine, concerns about lockdowns, and other comments on the response to Covid by the administration.