"The developer of ICEBlock, an iPhone app that anonymously tracks the presence of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, has sued the Trump administration for free speech violations after Apple removed the service from its app store under demands from the White House. The suit, filed on Monday in federal court in Washington, asks a judge to declare that the administration violated the First Amendment when it threatened to criminally prosecute the app's developer and pressured Apple to make the app unavailable for download, which the tech company did in October."
"Following Apple ejecting ICEBlock, Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement that "we reached out to Apple today demanding they remove the ICEBlock app from their App Store and Apple did so." Lawyer Noam Biale, who filed the suit against the administration, said Bondi's remarks show the government illegally pressuring a private company to suppress free speech."
""We view that as an admission that she engaged in coercion in her official role as a government official to get Apple to remove this app," Biale said in an interview with NPR. The Justice Department did not return a request for comment, but Trump administration officials have said the app puts the lives of ICE agents in danger."
ICEBlock was an iPhone app that anonymously tracked the presence of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. The app was removed from Apple's App Store after demands from the White House, and the app's developer filed a federal lawsuit alleging the administration violated the First Amendment by threatening criminal prosecution and coercing Apple to remove the app. Attorney General Pam Bondi publicly acknowledged outreach to Apple requesting removal. The lawsuit contends Apple yielded to political pressure and notes administration officials argued the app endangered ICE agents. The developer created the app to oppose the administration's immigration crackdown.
Read at www.npr.org
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