Judge orders DOJ, DHS to stop censoring anti-ICE social media groups
A federal judge ruled that the Trump administration appeared to have illegally threatened Facebook and Apple to censor the social media of anti-ICE groups, and he said he would order the government to remove them.
Government officials said the Facebook group “ICE Sightings – Chicagoland” and the smartphone app “Eyes Up” were used to “dox” or reveal personal information about U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel.
Kristi Noem, then-Secretary of Homeland Security, and Pam Bondi, then-Attorney General, both bragged about removing offensive posts from the Facebook group and starting Eyes Up from Apple’s approved offerings.
Judge Jorge Alonso, Obama’s nominee, said the government’s pressure on tech companies had gone too far, particularly when he suggested there would be consequences for the companies if they didn’t play the game.
“They contacted Facebook and Apple and demanded, rather than requested, that Facebook and Apple censor plaintiff’s speech,” the judge wrote.
He said Ms Bondi herself had linked her demands to Apple’s removal of the app from its store.
The judge said Ms Bondi made the situation worse by making “thinly veiled threats”, suggesting that tech companies should be sued for contributing to doxing.
The ruling presents a stark mirror image of a lawsuit filed against the Biden administration, alleging that the federal government pressured tech companies to censor claims about the 2020 election and the coronavirus pandemic.
That lawsuit was successful in district court, but was ultimately dismissed by the Supreme Court, which ruled that the plaintiffs lacked standing to sue.
Nonetheless, the Trump administration entered into a consent decree last month stating that it cannot force social media companies to remove content the government doesn’t like.
