Homeland Security has recently intensified its efforts to unmask individuals behind anonymous social media accounts that are critical of government policies. One such Inspire Montco account is @montocowatch. This organization is committed to disseminating resources that uphold immigrant rights and due process in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. The agency relied on administrative subpoenas to obtain identifiable information regarding the individuals operating those accounts. This unjustified action underscores a troubling normalization of government surveillance of those who speak out.
Her @montocowatch account has been called an immigrant rights superhero headquarters. Its operators offer a wealth of knowledge and resources focused on empowering marginalized communities. U.S. homeland security agents are on a broader governmental mission. As with Perez’s case, they are always looking for any accounts to expose the true individuals behind anonymous burner accounts that focus on governmental misdeeds.
These administrative subpoenas issued by Homeland Security requested massive troves of data from Instagram, including direct messages and comments. This required knowing the identity of the account holder. It included the day, time, and length of all virtual sessions. The leaks included the subpoenas that requested the account holder’s IP address and physical address. They further asked for a list of all services utilized and other usernames associated with the account. The agency’s requests extended to sensitive personal information such as credit card details, driver’s license numbers, and Social Security numbers.
Homeland Security officials were able to draw on these similar administrative subpoenas in at least four other cases. That’s what has happened in the case against @montocowatch. These efforts highlight a broader strategy aimed at intimidating individuals who document immigration activity or express dissent regarding government actions.
Less than two weeks after this email inquiry into the account, agents from Homeland Security appeared on the individual’s front door. They thought this person was doing it from @montocowatch. This straightforward approach was alarming enough to civil liberties advocates that they feared the FBI’s tactics.
“This is part of a broader strategy to intimidate people who document immigration activity or criticize government actions.” – The ACLU
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has criticized these actions as a misuse of power. They maintain that these types of invasive tactics violate free speech protections and chill people from participating in advocacy. The ACLU’s pushback represents a new level of concern by civil society that government agencies are tracking social media accounts that dispute the official narrative.
In recent months, Homeland Security has greatly increased its use of ASUBs. They are specifically targeting online dissenters as a part of a larger federal immigration crackdown happening nationwide in the United States. This brutal crackdown has prompted massive protests. Advocacy groups and community members are denouncing it, claiming it to be an affront to human dignity.
Despite the widespread backlash against these fearmongering tactics, Homeland Security refuses to back down, insisting that their actions are broadly justified by their desire to bring law and order. As Katelin Jabbari, a Google spokesperson told us, “like we did in this case.” She was talking about the way they responded to information requests from the agency.
The campaign for transparency in spotting the naysayers is really starting to steamroll through. This begs the critical question of privacy rights, particularly in this era where social media plays an outsized role in advocacy and political speech. Yet government agencies aren’t done searching for more invasive surveillance methods. This continued technological discovery creates a huge fight between national security and civil liberties.