US Demands Reddit Unmask ICE Critic, Summons Firm To Grand Jury (arstechnica.com)
- Reference: 0181565258
- News link: https://yro.slashdot.org/story/26/04/11/0114251/us-demands-reddit-unmask-ice-critic-summons-firm-to-grand-jury
- Source link: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/04/trump-admin-hounds-reddit-to-reveal-identity-of-user-who-criticized-ice/
> The Trump administration has [1]stepped up an effort to unmask a Reddit user who criticized Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). After failing to obtain information through a [2]summons issued (PDF) to Reddit, the government reportedly issued a subpoena demanding that Reddit provide the information and appear before a grand jury in Washington, DC. [3]The Intercept described the subpoena today. "According to a subpoena obtained by The Intercept, Reddit has until April 14 to provide a wide range of personal data on one of its users, whom US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have been trying unsuccessfully to identify for more than a month," the article said.
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> The legal saga began in US District Court for the Northern District of California. On March 12, the anonymous Reddit user whose information is being sought [4]filed a motion (PDF) to quash a summons seeking a host of information from Reddit. The summons was issued by the Department of Homeland Security and directed Reddit to turn information over to an ICE senior special agent. The summons cited authority under [5]19 U.S. Code 1509 , which is part of the [6]Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930 . The motion to quash said the summons is not authorized by the law, which deals with imports of boats, alcoholic drinks, and animals, among other things.
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> "J. Doe is a US citizen who has not traveled out of the country, is not engaged in any international commerce, has no business concerns outside the United States, and primarily uses their Reddit account to engage in political speech relevant to their local community," said the filing by the Civil Liberties Defense Center (CLDC), which represents the Reddit user. "Yet the government claims the right to obtain Doe's name, telephone number, home address, banking and credit card information, IP addresses, telephone model number(s), and the names of any other accounts associated with their Reddit account. The information sought by the government in no way pertains to customs or importing or exporting merchandise, and is clearly intended to chill free speech."
"We should be very, very, very concerned that they've now taken one of these to a grand jury," said David Greene, senior counsel for the Electronic Frontier Foundation. "It's something to be taken very seriously."
A Reddit spokesperson told Ars today that "we seek to inform users of any legal process compelling disclosure of their data, as we did in this case, because users should have the agency to protect their own information and are often better positioned to challenge requests that impact them."
"We do not voluntarily share information with any government, especially not on users exercising their rights to criticize the government or plan a protest. We review every inquiry for legal sufficiency and routinely object to requests that are overbroad or threaten civil rights. When legally compelled to disclose data, we provide only the minimum required and notify the user whenever possible so they can defend their interests."
[1] https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/04/trump-admin-hounds-reddit-to-reveal-identity-of-user-who-criticized-ice/
[2] https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cand.465800/gov.uscourts.cand.465800.1.2.pdf
[3] https://theintercept.com/2026/04/10/reddit-ice-protest-grand-jury/
[4] https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cand.465800/gov.uscourts.cand.465800.1.0.pdf
[5] https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/19/1509
[6] https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?path=/prelim@title19/chapter4&edition=prelim
Re:ICE protects women and children from Predators (Score:5, Insightful)
> the worship of criminals, is over.
lol, your sad little cult is worshiping a convicted felon and you don't mind at all.
Re: (Score:3)
Not only that, it protects them from Aliens too! It's the whole package!
Re:ICE protects women and children from Predators (Score:5, Insightful)
Said by the one literally worshiping a pedo.
Re:ICE protects women and children from Predators (Score:4, Funny)
> If you campaign against that, then you are evil (and an airhead virtue signaller). Full stop. BLM, the worship of criminals, is over.
OMG ICE arrested Trump? Why I have not read about this!
Re: ICE protects women and children from Predators (Score:2)
The fine taste of boot leather on your lips
Re: (Score:2)
So ICE is about to arrest the rapist and child-molester-in-chief? No? Did not think so.
freedom (Score:5, Insightful)
Remember folks, the right wing believes in free speech! Trump wants this person's name to give him a freedom reward!
Re: (Score:2)
You do understand there's a difference between being banned from a forum for breaking some forum rule, and being thrown in prison, right?
Re: (Score:2)
Yes. Your point ?
And I wasn't banned from a shitty little forum, I was banned by a mod of that shitty little forum FROM ALL OF REDDIT.
Re: (Score:2)
Not going to look for it but: Rather than discuss the issue, a guy insulted me, I insulted him back, turned out he was a mod, I got banned FROM REDDIT, he remained on Reddit and in the group (of course).
Hey ICE (Score:1)
-ICE Agents murder US citizens
-Todd Michael Lyons abused women while serving in the Air Force
-Markwayne Mullin is a fake Cherokee and actively steals money from at least two Native American nations
--He also actively cheats on his wife
-ICE agents cause (and directly commit) more crime than they prevent
Go ahead and try to subpoena me you useless pussies. All you're gunna get are pictures of dicks and middle fingers. ICE agents deserve to watch their loved ones die in a fire on repeat.
Re: (Score:2)
That last one was uncalled for.
Re: (Score:3)
> That last one was uncalled for.
ICE agents absolutely do deserve to watch their loved ones die on repeat. Their loved ones don't deserve it, but that's absolutely what ICE agents are causing to happen to other people, so fuck them, fuck them, fuck them, fuck them forever. And fuck anyone who enables them, including by making excuses for them or defending their actions, forever and ever amen.
Re: (Score:2)
I'm not defending ICE's actions. I can't defend the indefensible. But nobody can be like them and claim the moral high-ground. They won't be around in their current form forever. As tough as it is, I recommend we wait them out, and speak out as needed, firmly but non-violently.
It has been accepted since biblical times that we must not suffer the sins of the father on the son. Let's keep that as a north star.
Re: Same same (Score:2)
Why can't both be wrong.
Also, I don't recall armed agents knocking on doors because you didn't like masks. So not EXACTLY the same.
Laws with mission creep (Score:4, Insightful)
The use of the Smoot-Hawley Act to get this information is, as the defendant's argument points out, a weird use of an act with a totally different purpose. As is so often the case, the executive is seeking to get its way with legislation that wasn't intended for their purpose. It's how our freedoms die; laws nibble away at them without it being deliberate. If you can find a witch to hunt with the law, even better; the present growth of live face scanning technology in the UK is being driven by examples of sex offenders being spotted with it.
It's so much easier to rule the country if the population is kept surveiled and cowed into silence.
Re: (Score:2)
The affirmative defenses from the person whose name they're trying to get suggests that that law is clearly being abused and has no relevance here, which makes me wonder if someone within the DoJ is intentionally trying to throw the case. Let's hope so!
An obvious attempt to suppress free speech (Score:5, Insightful)
The Trump administration lackeys are looking for someone to make an example of.
If they're successful in getting information about the commenter, everyone will simply stop using their reddit accounts and/or self censor.
Reddit is an obvious target. It is perceived as liberal by people who can't quite figure out that a completely free, easy to use, forum represents "average" not "left."
Re: (Score:2)
The Don Trump doesn't do free, you must pay for everything and he has to get his cut.
looks like a textbook 1st amendment case (Score:5, Interesting)
The only explanation for this reaching a grand jury is after a lawyer has told their handler "this is totally illegal and will never stand up in court", and being told to "just DO IT ANYWAY", making it only very thinly veiled harassment.
One nice thing here though is they can't lean on the individual exercising ther rights. (they don't even know they're the ones being targeted) Reddit is taking all the heat and standing up to the bully on the playground for them, which is awesome to see. And unlike the victim, they also have the resources (legal team, money, patience, media attention) to cleanly defend against this blatant over-reach.
If this plays out like it should , the grand jury will return a "no bill", which basically means the accusation doesn't even have enough merit to pass the lowest legal bar in existence. Or more specifically, "Your case has no chance of winning, and we've concluded they are probably innocent and you are just trying to waste the court's time and/or harass an innocent citizen"
In a more perfect world, filing garbage to grand juries should result in lawyers getting sanctioned (or even disbarred), but seeing as this administration is going through lawyers like kids go through shoes, I'm pretty sure any lawyer that joins this legal team already knows they're disposable. Hire a new one, let them submit some garbage filings, and just about the time the court's ready to start sanctions, kick 'em to the curb and bring in a fresh one. Unfortunately there's not a lot of check-and-balance for this sort of behavior, all you need is enough money to keep feeding into the fire.
Re: (Score:2)
It is good to see Reddit take this stance, but they have to. If they don't, even more people will flee their platform.
ICE is essential like ZATCA (Score:2)
ICE prevents formation of internal terror clusters inspired by imported ideologies and imported radicalized people, just like Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority (ZATCA) has successfully prevented clusters influenced by terror networks operating in Iraq, Iran and Pakistan from forming in Saudi Arabia. Trump's praise (or any future criticism) of ICE carries no weight. While evaluating ICE, I'd definitely be careful not to make Ad Hominem fallacy.
Re: (Score:2)
This is the dumbest tinfoil hat shit I've read all year. Are you an AI bot?
It was me (Score:2)
I fess up, I did it. What are you gonna do about it?
Anyone on the right wing want to defend this? (Score:3)
Something I've noticed is lately outside of safe spaces the right wing keeps their damned mouths shut. Every so often one of them will jump in and yell TDS or something but they never actually tried to defend the actions of anyone on their side or any of their policies anymore. Mostly they either avoid conversations outside of safe spaces entirely or they lurk and mod everything they don't like down.
I think the right wing knows this is going to bite them in the ass personally. I mean the rank and file the members of the Epstein class who are actually arranging all this are benefiting from it greatly. But I don't think they can stop because they've given up too many friends and family.
But come on right wingers. By all means defend this. Tell me why it's okay for the administration to go after somebody for some Reddit posts. Explain to me why you think it'll never happen to you.
Re:Anyone on the right wing want to defend this? (Score:2)
They're running out of reality distortion maneuvering freedom and have almost realized they were wrong all along but their fragile, insecure egos prevent them from admitting it to themselves or anyone else. Therefore, they're stuck in an existential, political, and moral limbo and hubris.
One way out is to forgive them with empathy they failed to extend to others but not to forget because the primary enemy of all is the wealthy and corrupt that don't strictly adhere to any political party. Remaining divide
In other news, ICE going after Robby Roadsteamer (Score:2)
Apparent SLAPP lawsuit per [1]here [youtube.com].
[1] https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Pash8WNrTys
just a bunch of virgins (Score:1)
ahh, the absolutely STUNNING irony of ICE telling people they're not allowed to be assholes online
Re: Consequence culture (Score:5, Insightful)
Well, it depends. Did he really commit a crime and is the government action just? If yes to both questions, then law and due process should be followed.
But it certainly doesn't fell like it and the government trying to bring an ancient and unrelated law to the table is a bad sign.
Re: (Score:3)
> The government historically was given the benefit of the doubt regarding whether their pursuit of justice was considered appropriate.
It's called [1]Presumption of Regularity. [harvard.edu]
> Recent filings, and arguments, have shown that there has been a shift in the governments approaches, and the judiciary has taken notice that they can no longer just give the government a pass.
Yup.
[1] https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/when-government-gets-it-right-a-framework-for-assessing-when-agencies-deserve-a-presumption-of-regularity/
Re:Consequence culture (Score:5, Insightful)
I cannot image what you mean by "consequenceculture" or who you think the "zealous consequenceculture-people" are.
I'm all into thinking about consequences. You know, cause and effect, physical reality and all that. But all punishment for bad deeds. bad karma and so on. That's how we get things to work and have a civilised society.
So let's think about the consequences of the regime being able to get this guys personal info. Clearly they want it so as to shut him down and silence the criticism of government agency.
A consequence of the regime getting that power in this case through the courts would be that it is much easier for them to do the same in future cases.
A consequence of that is a chill effect in free speech, as nobody will want to attract such harassment
A consequence of that is the regime descending into authoritarianism and ending up like Russia, North Korea or Iran.
It sounds like all of that is OK with you. Is it?
By the way you seem to be judging that the guy was guilty of something and should suffer the consequences. Well, may I ask what his crime was?
Re: Consequence culture (Score:2)
Presumably eating a Chinese meal, a succulent Chinese meal?
Re:Consequence culture (Score:5, Insightful)
> A consequence of the regime getting that power in this case through the courts would be that it is much easier for them to do the same in future cases.;
When a new administration comes in and uses the same tactics against those who now cheer such actions and yell "Hooray for our side" will be screaming how unfair it is. All of a sudden, payback makes what seemed like a good idea ta the time wasn't.
Re: (Score:3)
> When a new administration comes in and uses the same tactics against those who now cheer such actions and yell "Hooray for our side" will be screaming how unfair it is. All of a sudden, payback makes what seemed like a good idea ta the time wasn't.
Did that happen when Trump 1.0 ended? I don't recall that the Biden administration followed the same playbook that Trump did.
Some Trumpists might say yes, pointing to post-Jan 6 prosecutions for example. Well, legitimate crimes need to be prosecuted, even if the other side cries foul.
The problem is that when one side has truly become corrupt, they frame their opponents as corrupt, especially when they're taken to account later.
Re:Consequence culture (Score:5, Informative)
> I am wondering how the zealous consequenceculture-people feel about this, getting consequences for what you post online..
I certainly want relevant consequences for actions online, but I fail to see how it applies here.
If someone threatens to kill another person, they should be subject to the law as it relates. This is good.
If someone criticizes the government online, they are subjected to the law of importing boats without paying tariffs. This is bad. That is not what a lawful government does; that is what a tyrannical government does.
Re: (Score:2)
They feel that need need throwaway email addresses, use Tor on top of a VPN and use a free WIFI where there are no cameras.
THEN you may exercise your free speech.
Re: Consequence culture (Score:2)
But everyone tells me that TOR is all that's necessary, and that running it over a VPN paradoxically makes it less secure.
Re: Consequence culture (Score:2)
These days it is easier to just live in Canada if you want to critize the US government.
Re:Consequence culture (Score:4, Informative)
Consequence culture is a celebrity doing or saying something stupid and then being excoriated by their audiences and the public.
What's going on here is authoritarian repression of freedom of expression, with the implied threat of serious legal consequences against someone for expressing a viewpoint the government didn't like.
Miles apart.
Fascism culture (Score:2)
Those consequences do not include 1st and 4th amendment violations by the federal government.
Re: (Score:2)
careful what you wish for. according to this:
“John Doe responded by sharing that Ross had lived in Chaska, Minnesota; grew up in Indiana; and served in the Indiana National Guard—biographical details that were circulating widely at the time,” and wrote that “Hopefully he moves up to Stillwater State Penitentiary,” according to The Intercept.
On a different occasion, Doe suggested that another Reddit user write “Urine speaks louder than words” on an anti-ICE protest s