On Thursday, Twitter sued the U.S. Department of Homeland Security asking the court to not take procedure in revealing the identity of an account that has been critical of the Trump Administration.
The lawsuit can bring potential conflict between the Trump administration and Twitter regarding digital privacy, a problem that has created a problem between the technology industry and government in recent years.
Twitter had presented in a federal court filing that it was presented a summons to show the identity or identities behind @ALT_USCIS one of many so-called alt-accounts operated by people appearing to be active or former federal employees. The @ALT_USCIS account, gained thousands of followers quickly, has often criticized the Trump administration’s immigration policies and enforcement activity.
Twitter announced in its filing that it couldn’t be forced to reveal the identity or identities of whoever is operating the account. Twitter argued that the government’s command and reasoning were unlawful that agreeing to do so would have “a grave chilling effect” regarding the speech of alt-accounts that voice against different government policies.
“A time-honored tradition of pseudonymous free speech on matters of public moment runs deep in the political life of America,” Twitter said in their filing. “These First Amendment interests are at their zenith when, as here, the speech at issue touches on matters of public political life.”
Even before the Trump administration, other presidential administrations sought access to highly regarded digital information held by internet companies such as Facebook, Google, and Twitter who claim that this is overstepping of government power. In regards to such cases, Federal officials claim they need the data for national security amongst other reasons.
Last year, Apple squared off against the FBI in a case that contained several issues regarding privacy and national security.
The FBI asked Apple to unlock an iPhone operated by a gunman in an attack in San Bernardino, California. Apple refused stating its customer’s privacy concern and the possible legal precedent. The FBI dropped this after they found an alternative way of opening the iPhone without Apple’s assistance.
Twitter has always protected its user’s First Amendment rights to protect accounts that reveal any type of information.
The American Civil Liberties Union said that they would represent the anonymous person or persons behind @ALT_USCIS.
“To unmask an anonymous speaker online, the government must have a strong justification,” said Nathan Freed Wissler, an A.C.L.U. attorney who is working on the case. “But in this case the government has given no reason at all, leading to concerns that it is simply trying to stifle dissent.”
The @ALT_USCIS account, was created in January has often criticized Trump administration policies, amongst other policies. Messages created by the account have linked to Trump’s executive order restricting travel to the United States by people from many Muslim countries with the hashtag, “#MuslimBan.”
The account has referred itself as an “official inside resistance” and claims that the user or users behind the account is an active federal employee of Citizenship and Immigration services. Twitter claims that there are close to 19,000 employees that work for the Citizenship and Immigration services.
The Customs and Border Protection sent Twitter a summons in March, that ordered the company to send over information regarding the @ALT_USCIS account including the names, telephone numbers, addresses, and IP addresses of the account operator or operators.
The Summons referred to 19 U.S. Code 1509, a federal law that enables Custom and Border Protection to “obtain documents only for investigations and inquiries relating to the importation of merchandise.”
Twitter said the law wasn’t of any relevance to the agency’s request, while the summons violated the Stored Communications Act, that protects the privacy of individuals and their ownership’s interest.
