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DHS Sought Identities of ICE Critics From Google, Meta and Reddit Using Administrative Subpoenas

Civil-liberties groups are pressing platforms to seek court review after disclosures that some users received only days to challenge.

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A group of parents who said their children were harmed by social media gather outside of a tech addiction trial at California Superior Court of Los Angeles County in Los Angeles, on Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2026. Mark Zuckerberg, Meta’s chief executive, said on Wednesday that users spent a lot of time on Instagram because of its value, as he was grilled about child safety issues in front of a jury. (Mark Abramson/The New York Times)
Detail of the US Homeland Security on a computer screen

Overview

  • Google, Meta and Reddit complied with some Department of Homeland Security requests, while Meta, Reddit and Discord declined to comment and Google outlined its notice-and-review policy.
  • The administrative subpoenas—issued without prior judicial approval—sought names, email addresses, phone numbers and other identifiers for accounts that criticized ICE or pointed to agents’ locations.
  • Several targeted users were notified and given about 10 to 14 days to contest the demands in court before the companies responded.
  • DHS asserted broad subpoena authority and, in court filings, described the effort as protecting ICE agents in the field, though it declined to address specific requests.
  • In a Northern District of California case involving the Montco Community Watch pages, the ACLU moved to quash Meta subpoenas, and DHS withdrew the requests two days after a January hearing.