Twitter is Keeping Quiet on a Trump Troll

Twitter has filed a lawsuit to block a Department of Homeland Security order that is demanding to know the identity of one of its users.

The user, @ALT_uscis has been a major critic of President Trump's policies on immigration and travel.

The Washington Post says the tweets indicate that the account may be run by an employee of the US Citizenship and Immigration Services division of Homeland Security. 

In the account's description it says it's views isn't indicative as such.

"Not the views of DHS or USCIS."

Free speech advocates say the DHS order, if successful, would have a major "chilling effect on the speech of that account".

This isn't the first time the federal government has tried to overstep their bounds when it comes to free speech.

In 2016, Apple refused to unlock the phone of the San Bernardino shooters and wouldn't create any programs that would allow law enforcement officers to break into smartphones.

However, in Twitter's case advocates are in an uproar because this is about revealing the identity of a political commentator instead of worrying about the public's safety.

Electric Frontier Foundation attorney Andrew Crocker says Twitter has a strong argument against the DHS.

"It does look and smell like the government is going after a critic. There's nothing in the summons that CBP [Customs and Border Protection] sent to Twitter that authorizes this request under the power that they have."


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