U.S. Blinks in Clash With Twitter; Drops Order to Unmask Anti-Trump Account
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Source: New York Times
By MIKE ISAAC
APRIL 7, 2017
SAN FRANCISCO Last month, the federal government issued a summons ordering Twitter to hand over information about an anonymous account that had posted messages critical of the Trump administration. Now, the government has blinked.
Customs and Border Protection on Friday withdrew its demand that Twitter unmask the anonymous account, a day after the social media company sued the government to block the summons. The person or people behind the account in question, @ALT_USCIS, had claimed to be a current employee of Citizenship and Immigration Services and had regularly posted messages at odds with White House policy.
The governments move defused a potential standoff pitting a presidential administration that has tried to clamp down on leaks against a technology company with a history of defending its users First Amendment rights.
Read more: https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/04/07/technology/us-blinks-in-clash-with-twitter-drops-order-to-unmask-anti-trump-account.html?referer=https://www.google.com/ to source
An important victory.
JEFF9K
(1,935 posts)iluvtennis
(19,757 posts)christx30
(6,241 posts)had any case to demand that of Twitter. "posted messages critical of the Trump administration". Where is the alleged crime here? What the hell gives them the right to even ask this? Unless the posts are about encouraging undocumented immigration and details ways of getting around CPB, why does CPB even think that Twitter owes them any kind of obedience?! I'm just... ugh...
But this does point to an escalation in the fascism of the new US government. Trump has given his ilk leave to up controls on speech. This is intimidation. Not just of Twitter, but the rest of social media. "Don't mess with us. Keep your trap shut, or we'll make your life difficult."
Glad Twitter pushed back. Trump needs to be told "No" loudly, and often.
jpak
(41,741 posts)let him see who's the boss
yup
Frequent Ranter
(55 posts)But it's hard getting used to the fact that, in legal matters, "the U.S." now means the Orange Mutant Administration. Ugh!
Glimmer of Hope
(5,823 posts)mcar
(42,210 posts)Duplicate thread: https://www.democraticunderground.com/10141748366