WSJ: How ICE Is Weaponizing Social Media Against Its Critics
ICE and Homeland Security have sent hundreds of subpoenas and spent $258 million on tools and contractors to identify critics online, officials said.
- Immigration and Customs Enforcement launched a round-the-clock operation scouring Facebook and Instagram for online criticism, paying private contractors millions to flag posts deemed threats to agents or its mission, according to a Wall Street Journal investigation.
- Spending on surveillance tools hit $258 million in President Donald Trump's first full year back, a 57% jump, while Department of Homeland Security officials cite an 8,000% rise in death threats against agents to justify the monitoring.
- The administration now classifies filming agents as domestic terrorism, stretching the label to include filming agents at work; DHS sent hundreds of subpoenas to social media companies to identify anonymous accounts, though Reddit successfully blocked 11 requests.
- One agency office opened at least 131 doxxing and threat cases in roughly a year; prosecutors won convictions when posts crossed into real threats, but many unmasked people are never charged, suggesting the tactic functions as intimidation.
- Civil-Rights attorneys argue the surveillance dragnet frequently ensnares innocuous posts protected by the First Amendment, with civil rights attorney Lauren Regan telling the Journal that the agency targets people expressing views, not actual threats.
10 Articles
10 Articles
WSJ: ICE Is Weaponizing Social Media Against Critics
The Independent reports: The Department of Homeland Security is allegedly conducting a mass surveillance operation on social media bent on identifying posters who are criticizing and making threats against immigration agents. As part of the effort, DHS has sent hundreds of subpoenas to social media companies while asking commenters to sign letters stating that their online speech “may” be considered a crime, The Wall Street Journal reports. Such…
The immigration police ICE searches the social networks for contributions about their officials. Critics say it's about intimidation.
Millionaire contracts, AI and citations to platforms are part of the strategy to monitor immigration publications
ICE builds round-the-clock hunt to unmask online accounts saying 'naughty' things about it
Immigration and Customs Enforcement has stood up a round-the-clock operation to scour Facebook, Instagram and X for online criticism, paying private contractors millions to flag posts it deems a threat to its agents or its mission, according to a Wall Street Journal investigation.The effort has swept up U.S. citizens and activist groups that track ICE activity, with contractors assembling dossiers that can include a poster's name, birth date, em…
Coverage Details
Bias Distribution
- 60% of the sources lean Left
Factuality
To view factuality data please Upgrade to Premium
