In the United States, ICE sent hundreds of requests to Gafam, previously reserved for criminal investigations, in order to identify simple opponents to Donald Trumps policy.

In recent months, Google, Meta, and other companies have received hundreds of requests from the Department of Homeland Security, including the Immigration Police, to obtain information about individuals who have criticized or tracked them.

Terrifying and angering many Americans, ICE has found a way to (almost) know everything about its opponents. For several months, the American immigration police have been sending administrative subpoenas to technology companies to obtain personal information of individuals who have criticized or tracked them.

Google, Meta, Reddit, and Discord have received hundreds of these requests from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), including ICE, as reported by the New York Times. These companies are asked to provide the names, email addresses, phone numbers, and other personal data of these individuals. While they are not required to do so, the first three have agreed to provide this information to the federal agency in some cases.

Contesting in court

In other cases, the companies have informed users affected by these requests, giving them between 10 and 14 days to challenge them in court. This is what Meta did when DHS asked for the names, email addresses, zip codes, and other information about the people behind the Facebook and Instagram accounts named “Montco Community Watch” on September 11. Since June, they have been monitoring ICE activities in Montgomery County.

“We received a law enforcement subpoena requesting information about your Facebook account. If we do not receive a copy of the documents you filed in court to challenge this subpoena within ten days, we will provide the requested information to the requesting entity,” the American giant informed the two accounts on October 3.

Their owner then alerted the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union), a civil liberties defense organization, which filed a request to have the government’s demand canceled on October 16. DHS eventually withdrew its request on January 16, two days after the non-profit organization accused it of using administrative subpoenas to target people whose statements it dislikes during a court hearing.

Users not always informed

Today, the owner of these accounts can still alert Montgomery County residents about immigration police movements. Others have not been as fortunate when facing these information requests. For example, when one of them was visited, journalist Amandla Thomas-Johnson saw his personal data transmitted by Google to DHS without prior notification. This happened because he had participated in a protest while still a student at Cornell University in New York.

“When we receive a subpoena, our review process aims to protect user privacy while complying with our legal obligations. We inform users when their accounts are subject to a subpoena unless a court order prevents us or in exceptional circumstances. We review each legal request and oppose those that are abusive,” a company spokesperson explained to the New York Times.

These multiple subpoenas worry the ACLU and the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), another civil liberties defense organization. In an open letter, they called on companies receiving these requests to inform the affected users, but also to “require DHS to seek judicial confirmation that their requests are neither illegal nor unconstitutional before companies disclose any information about users.”

These requests are particularly concerning as they were used sparingly until now, mainly to identify individuals behind social media accounts involved in serious crimes (child trafficking…). But since Donald Trump’s return to the White House, ICE’s powers have been strengthened, and the agency is not hesitating to abuse them, at the expense of essential freedoms of Americans.