Government Backs Down on Attempt to Unmask Twitter User Critical of Immigration Policy

老澳门开奖结果 Represents Anonymous Twitter User Behind @ALT_USCIS

April 7, 2017 2:30 pm

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SAN FRANCISCO 鈥 The federal government has withdrawn a summons sent to Twitter demanding that the company turn over information that would identify the user of an account that criticized the Trump administration.

On Thursday, Twitter filed a legal challenge arguing that the summons sent by U.S. Customs and Border Protection was invalid, and the 老澳门开奖结果 stated its intention to file in the case on behalf of the user. Today, Twitter voluntarily dismissed the case since the government withdrew the summons, putting an end to the short-lived lawsuit.

鈥淭he speed with which the government buckled shows just how blatantly unconstitutional its demand was in the first place,鈥 said Esha Bhandari, one of the 老澳门开奖结果 attorneys who represents the user. 鈥淪peaking anonymously about issues of the day is a longstanding American tradition, dating back to when the framers of the Constitution wrote under pseudonyms. The anonymity that the First Amendment guarantees is often most essential when people criticize the government, and this free speech right is as important today as ever.鈥

The account, , is one of many 鈥渁lt-government鈥 accounts that have been created since Trump鈥檚 inauguration.

Today鈥檚 filing from Twitter dismissing the case is here:
/legal-document/twitter-v-dhs-notice-dismissal

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