Twitter sues US government for trying to reveal identity of anti-Trump user, @ALT_uscis
A lawsuit filed by Twitter shows that the US government has been trying to force the company to reveal the identity of a user behind an account that is critical of Donald Trump and government policies.
The lawsuit reveals that Customs and Border Patrol hit Twitter with a summons in the middle of March relating to the @ALT_uscis (Alt US Citizenship and Immigration Services) account. The account is one of many "alt" accounts that sprang up after Trump inauguration, purportedly set up by disgruntled civil servants, and it is critical of immigration policy and plans to build a wall on the Mexican border.
In fighting the government's request for IP address, phone number and other information, Twitter cites the first amendment, saying that revealing identity of the account holder would be a violation of free speech: "Permitting CBP to pierce the pseudonym of the @ALT_uscis account would have a grave chilling effect on the speech of that account in particular and on the other "alternative agency" accounts that have been created to voice dissent to government policies."
The complaint points out that there is no evidence to suggest that the owner of the account has committed a crime:
This is an action to prevent the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and the individual Defendants from unlawfully abusing a limited-purpose investigatory tool to try to unmask the real identity of one or more persons who have been using Twitter's social media platform, and specifically a Twitter account named @ALT_USCIS, to express public criticism of the Department and the current Administration. The rights of free speech afforded Twitter's users and Twitter itself under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution include a right to disseminate such anonymous or pseudonymous political speech. In these circumstances, Defendants may not compel Twitter to disclose information regarding the real identities of these users without first demonstrating that some criminal or civil offense has been committed, that unmasking the users' identity is the least restrictive means for investigating that offense, that the demand for this information is not motivated by a desire to suppress free speech, and that the interests of pursuing that investigation outweigh the important First Amendment rights of Twitter and its users. But Defendants have not come close to making any of those showings. And even if Defendants could otherwise demonstrate an appropriate basis for impairing the First Amendment interests of Twitter and its users, they certainly may not do so using the particular investigatory tool employed here.
The account in question pointedly tweeted the text of the first amendment last night:
— ALT? Immigration (@ALT_uscis) April 6, 2017
Neither Twitter nor the government has commented further on the issue.
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