PUNCHING DOWN

Trump Goons Demand Reddit Unmask ICE Critic

The government has reportedly been trying to identify the user for over a month.

Reddit has been subpoenaed by the federal government to appear before a grand jury in Washington, D.C., according to a subpoena obtained by The Intercept. The company has until April 14 to provide data on an account belonging to a user identified as John Doe, whom Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has been attempting to identify since March 4, when Reddit first received an administrative subpoena—a legal tool used by federal agencies—from an ICE agent in Virginia seeking more than a month’s worth of electronic data related to the user. According to John Doe’s attorneys, the user’s posts about ICE did not contain anything incriminating and were instead limited to sharing widely circulated biographical information about Jonathan Ross, the ICE agent identified as fatally shooting Renee Good in January, suggesting slogans for anti-ICE protest signs, and criticizing the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). Though the initial request was withdrawn from a California federal court, four days later, on March 31, the government ordered Reddit to appear before a grand jury and to produce records covering a period three times longer than originally requested. In response to a request for comment, a Reddit spokesperson said the company does not “voluntarily share information with any government, especially not on users exercising their rights to criticize the government or plan a protest.”