EFF tells Big Tech to stop helping DHS unmask ICE critics
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and ACLU have urged major tech companies to refuse DHS subpoenas that target ICE critics, arguing that administrative subpoenas do not require judicial approval and are used to identify individuals posting about ICE activities. They highlight cases where DHS withdraws subpoenas after legal challenges, indicating an exploitative strategy. The organizations call for companies to require court approval and provide users with notice and a chance to contest such requests, aiming to limit DHS's ability to unmask critics without oversight.
The Department of Homeland Security has a tell: every time the ACLU shows up in court to challenge one of its subpoenas targeting ICE critics, DHS withdraws the demand before a judge can rule. The agency subpoenaed Meta for the identities behind Instagram accounts documenting ICE activity in California and Pennsylvania — then dropped the cases the moment legal challenges arrived. It's a strategy built on going after people who can't afford lawyers.
On February 10, the Electronic Frontier Foundation and ACLU of Northern California published an open letter demanding that Amazon, Apple, Discord, Google, Meta, Microsoft, Reddit, Snap, TikTok, and X stop helping them do it.
Administrative subpoenas — the tool DHS is using — don't require a judge's sign-off. The agency writes one, sends it, and the company either hands over the data or goes to court to fight it. No probable cause required. One target was Montco Community Watch, a bilingual Facebook and Instagram page that posts ICE-sighting alerts in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. DHS demanded names, email addresses, phone numbers, and postal codes for whoever ran the account. Meta gave the operators 10 days to find a lawyer or face identification.
Between January and June 2025, transparency reports show Google fielded 28,622 subpoenas from government agencies; Meta got 14,520. Neither company breaks out how many came from DHS specifically, according to the EFF. The EFF/ACLU letter asks companies to require court intervention before complying with any DHS subpoena, give targeted users maximum notice so they can challenge in time, and push back on gag orders that would prevent notification.
What the letter is really asking is for tech companies to stop making DHS's evasion strategy work — because right now, companies complying are what make this sustainable.
Previously:
• ICE can demand your data from Google without a warrant
• DHS is stalking Reddit users online
• Leaked memo reveals DHS is building a database of anti-ICE protesters
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