Reddit resisted giving users' personal data to the U.S. government over critical ICE posts
Reddit disclosed this week that it resisted handing over personally identifiable information to U.S. prosecutors about users who were critical of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.
The company said it pushed back on four grand jury subpoenas "involving content related to ICE actions because the users appeared to be engaged in protected activity under the First Amendment," which shields against government attempts to inhibit free speech and expression.
The link sharing social site disclosed the denials in its latest transparency report, which details the number and nature of legal demands that it received between January and June this year. This was during a time when there were widespread protests against ICE across the United States following the killings of two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis. Reddit said its pushback on the subpoenas led to prosecutors withdrawing the demands altogether or not pursuing disclosure. The Intercept first reported on one of the subpoenas back in April.
Reddit's disclosure adds to earlier reporting about how the U.S. Department of Homeland Security is using its government subpoena powers to demand information from tech companies, including Discord, Google, and Meta, about users who have been publicly critical of the Trump administration and its activities. In some cases, the companies complied and turned over personal information of critics, even when there was no judicially compelled reason to do so.
Unlike search warrants and court orders, which are backed by a judge, subpoenas are issued by government agencies to request information from companies, while dangling the future threat of going to court to formally compel the disclosure. (Arguably, if prosecutors had enough evidence already, they would have sought a court-issued order to begin with.) Grand jury subpoenas, like the ones served on Reddit, are generally issued by government prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney's Office, and not the judiciary.
Since Trump took office in January 2025, Homeland Security has issued more than 185,000 subpoenas with no judicial oversight. Wired, which caught the number in a court filing, reports that the number of these warrantless demands for information have rocketed during Trump's second term.
Reddit's recent disclosure is a win for transparency and free speech, and it matters that Reddit disclosed its pushback on its own accord. It shows that companies don't have to comply with a demand just because a government agency issued it. It's all the more important to publish transparency reports at a time when the U.S. government is increasingly acting outside of the law.
Reddit has one of the longest running biannual transparency reports, which details during every six-month window how often the government demands Reddit users' data, and when the company says no. Most of the big tech giants maintain their own transparency reports online, but newer tech companies — aside from a few outliers — have largely eschewed the practice.
It's why I continue harping on about Oura, the wearable fitness tracker used by millions of people around the world (including in my family, much to my chagrin). As one of the largest health wearable companies in the tech industry, Oura collects gobs of personal and sensitive data about its users' activity and location. But the company stores this data in a way that allows employees to access customer data. That also means governments can compel Oura to turn over that data, too.
For its size and market power, Oura has no excuse for not disclosing how often it gets a knock at the door from law enforcement or government agencies. Without knowing how many demands companies get, we'll never know how often — if at all — they push back.
Zack Whittaker
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