SAN FRANCISCO \u2013 The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) sued the\u00a0departments of Justice (DOJ) and Homeland Security (DHS) today to uncover information about the federal government\u00a0demanding\u00a0that\u00a0tech companies remove apps that document immigration enforcement activities\u00a0in communities throughout the country.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Tech platforms took down several such apps (including ICE Block, Red Dot, and\u00a0DeICER)\u00a0and webpages (including ICE Sighting-Chicagoland)\u00a0following communications with federal officials this year, raising important questions about government coercion\u00a0to\u00a0restrict\u00a0protected First Amendment activity.<\/p>\n
“We’re filing this lawsuit to find out just what the government told tech companies,” said EFF Staff Attorney F. Mario Trujillo. “Getting these records will be critical to determining whether federal officials crossed the line into unconstitutional coercion and censorship of protected speech.”<\/p>\n
In October,\u00a0Apple removed\u00a0ICEBlock, an app that allows users to report Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activity in their area,\u00a0from its\u00a0App Store. Attorney General Pamela Bondi publicly took credit for the takedown,\u00a0telling reporters<\/a>, \u201cWe reached out to Apple today demanding they remove the\u00a0ICEBlock\u00a0app from their App Store\u2014and Apple did so.\u201d In the days that followed,\u00a0Apple removed\u00a0several similar apps\u00a0from the App Store.\u00a0Google and Meta\u00a0removed\u00a0similar\u00a0apps and webpages from\u00a0platforms\u00a0they own\u00a0as well<\/a>.\u00a0Bondi vowed to \u201ccontinue engaging tech companies<\/a>\u201d on the issue.\u00a0<\/p>\n People have a\u00a0protected First Amendment right<\/a>\u00a0to document\u00a0and share information about\u00a0law enforcement activities\u00a0performed\u00a0in public. If government officials coerce third parties into suppressing protected activity, this can be unconstitutional, as the government cannot do indirectly what it is barred from doing directly.<\/p>\n Last month, EFF\u00a0submitted\u00a0Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to the DOJ, DHS and its\u00a0component\u00a0agencies\u00a0ICE and Customs and Border Protection. The requests sought records and communications about agency demands that technology companies remove apps and pages that document immigration enforcement activities. So far, none of the agencies have provided these records. EFF’s FOIA lawsuit demands\u00a0their\u00a0release.<\/p>\n For the complaint: https:\/\/www.eff.org\/document\/complaint-eff-v-doj-dhs-ice-tracking-apps<\/a><\/p>\n