The Department of Homeland Security sought to compel Twitter to reveal the identity of the person behind an account that was among the dozens of so-called “rogue” handles created to criticize the Trump administration, the social media company alleged in a lawsuit filed Thursday.
Twitter filed the lawsuit against DHS and federal government employees as a way to prevent them from unmasking the identity of the account user.
Twitter’s lawsuit states a special agent within Customs and Border Protection sent the social media company an administrative summons on March 13 seeking information about Twitter account @ALT_USCIS, which purports to be run by employees of the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services. The summons sought information that would reveal the identity of the account holder, including account login information, phone numbers and mailing addressed associated with it, and I.P. addresses.
The @ALT_USCIS is among dozens of rogue government accounts that have sprouted up since President Trump was sworn into office — each seeking to fuel rebellion against the president’s policies and actions.
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