Overview
- The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia issued grand jury subpoenas to Reddit and X on Thursday, May 28, seeking names, addresses and banking records for at least two anonymous users who criticized ICE.
- Platforms notified the affected accounts, the users retained lawyers and they are filing motions to quash the subpoenas while no formal charges have been disclosed to the targets.
- The Justice Department moved from earlier administrative summonses to grand jury subpoenas, a step lawyers say signals a criminal investigation and creates a much higher legal hurdle for targets to block disclosure.
- Attorneys say the inquiry may focus on allegations such as revealing a federal officer’s location but note the posts cited include profanity or sarcastic remarks with no clear violent intent, and civil-rights groups call the effort an intimidation tactic.
- The subpoenas follow February DHS demands to multiple platforms for critics’ data, and the outcome could set a strong precedent for whether users can remain anonymous and how companies balance legal deadlines with users’ chance to litigate.