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Social media giant<\/span> Reddit has been ordered to appear before a grand jury in Washington, D.C., as part of a federal effort to unmask anonymous online critics of the Trump administration\u2019s immigration crackdown.<\/p>\n According to a subpoena obtained by The Intercept, Reddit has until April 14 to provide a wide range of personal data on one of its users, whom U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have been trying unsuccessfully to identify for more than a month.<\/p>\n Attorneys for the Reddit user say their client\u2019s posts and their anonymity are squarely protected under the First Amendment and that ICE\u2019s use of a grand jury marks a disturbing escalation for the agency after seeing its previous efforts to investigate political speech quashed in court. The subpoena was issued by federal prosecutors in the capital after ICE\u2019s effort to identify the same user failed in a Northern California federal court. (The U.S. attorney\u2019s office in Washington declined to comment on the case.)<\/p>\n \u201cWe should be very, very, very concerned that they\u2019ve now taken one of these to a grand jury.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n Since President Donald Trump returned to office last year, federal agents have increasingly demanded social media companies reveal the users behind anonymous accounts<\/a> critical of his immigration crackdown, expressing particular interest in those that identify employees of the U.S. Border Patrol and ICE or share real-time information on enforcement activity. The administration claims the accounts are engaged in doxing and endanger officer safety<\/a>, but they have also targeted social media users seemingly doing nothing more than expressing anger at the government.<\/p>\n Digital free speech advocates with the Electronic Frontier Foundation have closely tracked the investigations, finding that the government repeatedly folded when challenged in court. A grand jury subpoena, however, is a much different animal, said David Greene, EFF\u2019s senior counsel. Shrouded in secrecy and advantageous to prosecutors, the existence of a federal grand jury, particularly one convened in Washington, could suggest the government is moving toward a significant criminal case.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Greene knew of no examples during the recent wave of immigration enforcement-related investigations in which a leading tech company has been called to appear before one of the secret panels. Free speech protections are at their weakest in the context of a grand jury, he explained: The proceedings are not adversarial; their purpose is to permit a prosecutor to file charges.<\/p>\n \u201cWe should be very, very, very concerned that they\u2019ve now taken one of these to a grand jury,\u201d said Greene. \u201cIt\u2019s something to be taken very seriously.\u201d<\/p>\n The convening of a federal grand jury presents a considerable challenge for Reddit in particular, a platform that prides itself on protecting the free speech rights of its 121 million daily users. The company declined to say whether it intends to challenge the government\u2019s order.<\/p>\n \u201cPrivacy is central to how Reddit operates, and we take our commitment to protecting that seriously,\u201d the company said in a statement to The Intercept. \u201cWe do not voluntarily share information with any government, especially not on users exercising their rights to criticize the government or plan a protest.\u201d<\/p>\n When the government seeks data on users, the statement continued, Reddit reviews the commands for \u201clegal sufficiency and routinely object[s] to requests that are overbroad or threaten civil rights.\u201d Users are notified of the requests \u201cwhenever possible so they can defend their interests,\u201d the company went on to say, and Reddit provides only the \u201cminimum\u201d data required to satisfy law enforcement demands.<\/p>\n\n