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Twitter Sues Trump Administration For Attempts To Unmask Anti-Trump Account

Twitter Sues Trump Administration For Attempts To Unmask Anti-Trump Account

Twitter has sued Donald Trump's administration after the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials allegedly tried to get the social media company to reveal the identity of an anonymous anti-Trump account.

The lawsuit, according to a report from The Hill, states that CBP agents issued an administrative summons to Twitter asking for the identity of Twitter user @ALT_uscis. The account has been critical of the Trump administration, as well as the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. The user also claims to be operated by a government employee.

The lawsuit reads as follows:

"The purpose of this request appears to be, and the effect of Twitter's complying with it likely would be, to enable or help to enable Defendants to pierce the anonymity of the person or persons who established and use the @ALT_USCIS account."

However, Twitter has argued against the request, saying that revealing the user's identity would be a violation of its First Amendment rights.

"Compelled disclosure of the identities of Twitter users who have engaged in pseudonymous speech would chill their exercise of the constitutionally protected right to speak anonymously," the organization wrote. "Moreover, independent of its users' rights, Twitter's actions in providing a platform for the dissemination of its users' speech — including its decision to permit the publication of pseudonymous speech — is fully protected by the First Amendment."

Since Trump's inauguration, a number of rogue Twitter accounts claiming to be run by government employees have popped up.