The US Department of Justice reportedly subpoenaed Reddit and X to obtain personal information about at least two users who posted anonymously about ICE. The subpoenas sought names, addresses, and banking details, and were described as an escalation beyond earlier efforts to identify ICE critics. Users learned about the subpoenas from the platforms and were given a limited time to challenge the demands in court before the companies would have to comply. The subpoenas did not specify which laws the comments allegedly violated. Prior efforts included administrative subpoenas sent to major platforms to uncover identities. Lawyers for the users said the process moved from administrative summons to grand jury subpoenas, making it harder to resist, and argued the posts were largely general or sarcastic references to ICE and a specific officer involved in a killing.
"The US Department of Justice has reportedly subpoenaed Reddit and X, asking them for the personal information of at least two users who posted anonymously about ICE, in what seems to be an escalation of the government's previous efforts to unmask ICE critics. According to , Jeanine Pirro, the US Attorney for the District of Columbia and a close ally of President Trump, sent the subpoenas asking the social media websites for the users' personal information, including their names, addresses and banking details."
"Both users learned about the subpoenas from the websites, which gave them a short window of time to challenge the government's demands in court, before the companies have to provide whatever information they have to the DOJ. The subpoenas, however, didn't say what laws their comments had violated exactly. The New York Times reported back in February that Homeland Security had sent out hundreds of administrative subpoenas to Google, Reddit, Discord and Meta in the preceding months to uncover the identities of ICE critics."
"Lauren Regan, the lawyer representing the poster on Reddit, says the government did start "with an administrative summons, which does not indicate a criminal investigation, and then progressed to the grand jury subpoena, which does." She said that it was "further proof that this is a bad faith attempt to unmask the user." As Bloomberg notes, grand jury subpoenas are difficult to fight off, with recipients having to prove that they're oppressive before the judge can throw them out."
"Regan defended her client, saying that most of their posts simply read "[expletive] ICE." The post that she suspects caught the attention of authorities referenced the ICE officer who killed Renee Good in Minnesota and where the officer had lived. Joshua Koltun, the lawyer who represents the user from X, said his client made a sarcastic post about donating to the ICE officer who shot Good, along with their address t"
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