April 22 (UPI) — A government watchdog is investigating the Department of Homeland Security for a summons to Twitter, seeking to unmask the person behind an anonymous account critical of the Trump administration.
Homeland Security Inspector General John Roth said he is investigating an incident on March 14, when U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents sent a summons to Twitter, seeking to have the company reveal who is behind the account @ALT_USCIS. The account is one of dozens that popped up shortly after Trump took office, purporting to represent the real views of dissenters within the federal bureaucracy. The account remains active, run anonymously and tweeting out criticisms of Trump and the actual U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
Twitter refused to comply with the summons and, a day after receiving the missive, filed a lawsuit in federal court against the Department of Homeland Security, arguing it did not have the legal authority to order the company to violate a user’s free speech. The department quickly backed off its summons and Twitter dropped the lawsuit.
Still, the incident left a sour taste for many critics, including Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., the ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee.
Wyden wrote to Roth, asking whether his office would look into the Twitter flap and the wider issue of DHS summons that could exceed legal authority.
Roth wrote back Friday, saying his office is looking into whether CBP agents overstepped their authority in approaching Twitter under threat of legal action to unmask the individuals behind the @ALT_USCIS account. Roth also confirmed the CPB investigators asked his office to help determine whether any information disseminated by the Twitter account was classified. Roth said his office complied with the agency’s request and determined no improper information had been released by the account.
Roth noted, however, that his involvement in the department’s investigation into @ALT_USCIS ended there and did not include any attempt to determine who was behind the account, nor would he seek to do so in the future.
“[W]e strive to ensure that our work does not have a chilling effect on individuals’ free speech rights,” Roth wrote.
He did not offer a timeline for when the results of his investigation into the department’s hunt for the identity of @ALT_USCIS would be complete.
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