text: The Trump administration is trying to force Twitter to unmask at least one anti-Trump account, according to a new lawsuit. 
   
   Twitter (TWTR, Tech30) filed a lawsuit Thursday against the U.S. government to block a request to provide personal information about the user behind @ALT_uscis. 
   
   The account, whose name stands for alternative U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, is one of several alternative government accounts created after President Trump took office. It currently has more than 40,000 followers. 
   
   According to the lawsuit, an agent with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) faxed a summons to Twitter last month requesting the user's account login, phone number, mailing address and IP address. 
   
   Twitter argues in the suit that the request is a threat to free speech, which includes "a right to disseminate such anonymous or pseudonymous political speech." 
   
   Related: The Twitter resistance: Fighting Trump one tweet at a time 
   
   Twitter declined to comment beyond the legal filing. A representative for the CBP said it does not comment on pending litigation. A representative for the Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 
   
   Shortly after Trump's inauguration, alternative or "rogue" Twitter accounts began popping up for the National Park Service, Environmental Protection Agency, NASA and more. The accounts claimed to represent the views of government staffers who opposed Trump's policies. 
   
   In addition to criticizing the Trump administration, the @ALT_uscis account claimed to reveal improprieties with the CBP and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. 
   
   "There are ICE people in middle America who make twice their federal salary by 'real honest ways' to look the other way," the account wrote in one tweet in February. 
   
   That was followed up by a comment that "jackpot" for the enforcement agencies is "when they catch a deportable with a damn debit card on, they love the prepaid ones! No trace." 
   
   "We're glad Twitter is pushing back," the ACLU said in a tweet about the lawsuit. "We'll be going to court to defend this user's right to anonymous speech." 
   
   The @ALT_uscis account reshared the ACLU tweet on Thursday after the suit was filed. The account also posted a screengrab of the First Amendment and later joked, "This is one way to get verified." ||||| Twitter has launched a lawsuit against the Trump administration, after the Department of Homeland Security sought to unmask an anonymous user of an anti-Trump account. 
   
   According to Twitter’s suit, filed today in Northern California District Court, US Customs and Border Protection has attempted to use a “limited-purpose investigatory tool” to unmask the owner of the Twitter account “@ALT_uscis.” The account, one of several “alt” or “rogue” government accounts that appeared in the wake of Trump’s ascent to the presidency, was used “to express public criticism of the Department and the current Administration,” according to Twitter’s complaint. 
   
   In the suit, Twitter writes that @ALT_uscis has purported to be a dissenting member of US Citizenship and Immigration Services. On March 14th, Twitter received a summons from Customs requesting records that could reveal the identity of the account’s operator, including IP logs and any associated phone number or mailing address. Twitter writes that it later informed the account holder of the summons, and told the agency of its intent to fight the order in court. 
   
   “a grave chilling effect on the speech of that account” 
   
   In addition to the Department of Homeland Security and its subagency, the lawsuit names four individuals as defendants: DHS secretary John Kelly, acting CBP commissioner Kevin McAleenan, and special agents Stephen P. Caruso and Adam Hoffman, who issued and served the order itself. 
   
   Twitter’s lawsuit focuses on whether Customs has the legal authority to make such a request. CBP’s initial order invoked a statute largely related to taxes on the importation of merchandise into the US, which Twitter argues is insufficient authority to unmask a user. Twitter also writes that unmasking the account “would have a grave chilling effect on the speech of that account in particular and on the many other ‘alternative agency’ accounts that have been created to voice dissent to government policies.” Unmasking the account, the company contends, would infringe on political speech protected by Supreme Court rulings. The ACLU has pledged to support Twitter in the case. 
   
   Twitter declined to comment on the suit. Shortly after news of the lawsuit broke, the account @ALT_uscis responded with the following tweet. 
   
   @ALT_uscis is one of a string of accounts claiming to be operated by rogue government employees, formed in the wake of Donald Trump’s inauguration. It’s unclear whether any of the accounts are authentic — including @ALT_uscis — although many purport to offer an insider perspective. The Trump administration has responded aggressively to leaks in the past, including on-the-spot phone checks of White House staffers suspected of sharing information with the press. 
   
   The order served to Twitter is embedded below. ||||| SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Twitter Inc on Thursday filed a federal lawsuit to block an order by the U.S. government demanding that it reveal who is behind an account opposed to President Donald Trump’s tough immigration policies. 
   
   Twitter cited freedom of speech as a basis for not turning over records about the account, @ALT_uscis. The account is claimed to be the work of at least one federal immigration employee, according to the lawsuit filed in San Francisco federal court. 
   
   The acronym U.S. CIS refers to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, and the account describes itself as “immigration resistance.” Trump has vowed to build a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico and has promised to deport millions of illegal immigrants. 
   
   Following Trump’s inauguration in January, anonymous Twitter feeds that borrowed the names and logos of more than a dozen U.S. government agencies appeared to challenge the president’s views on climate change and other issues. They called themselves “alt” accounts. 
   
   Twitter spokesman Nick Pacilio declined to comment on whether the government had demanded information about other accounts critical of Trump. 
   
   Twitter, which counts Trump among its active users, has a record of litigating in favor of user privacy. 
   
   "The rights of free speech afforded Twitter's users and Twitter itself under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution include a right to disseminate such anonymous or pseudonymous political speech," Twitter said in the lawsuit. (tmsnrt.rs/2p6CnXp) 
   
   The Department of Homeland Security, which is a defendant in the lawsuit, declined to comment on pending litigation. The Justice Department, which typically represents federal agencies in court, and the White House had no immediate comment. 
   
   Senator Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, said in a statement it was a waste of resources to try to uncover an anonymous critic, and he called on the Homeland Security inspector general to investigate who directed the “witch hunt.” 
   
   Esha Bhandari, a staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union, which is representing the Twitter user, said the government’s request was highly unusual. Requests for social media account information from the U.S. government typically involve national security or criminal charges, she said. 
   
   Related Coverage Twitter revels in role of free speech defender as it sues Trump administration 
   
   “We have seen no reason the government has given for seeking to unmask this speaker’s identity,” Bhandari said, adding that the right to anonymous speech against the government is “a bedrock American value” strongly protected under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. 
   
   Shortly after the lawsuit became public, @ALT_uscis tweeted a copy of the First Amendment and a picture of part of the lawsuit. The account’s followers nearly tripled to 89,000 in the hours after the news broke. 
   
   For weeks the account has posted criticism of the administration. It tweeted a parody of the game “bingo” for “right-wing idiots,” said that some anti-immigration advocates must have been dropped on their head at birth, and mocked Trump for not giving more of his wealth to charities. 
   
   Twitter said it received an administrative summons last month demanding that it provide records related to the account. (tmsnrt.rs/2oKlWnk) 
   
   A copy of the summons filed with the lawsuit says the records are needed for an investigation to ensure compliance with duties, taxes and fines and other customs and immigration matters. 
   
   It was not immediately clear how the anonymous account fit into those laws and regulations, and Twitter said the summons was an abuse of a law meant to be used to investigate imported merchandise. 
   
   Twitter might have a strong case that the summons was improper, said Paul Alan Levy, staff attorney at Public Citizen Litigation Group who specializes in online privacy and free speech issues. 
   
   “I don’t think there is any way for the government to come out of this looking good,” Levy said. 
   
   There is no indication that the White House was aware of the summons, which was signed by a Florida-based supervisor who works in an office that investigates employee corruption, misconduct and mismanagement. The supervisor could not be reached for comment. 
   
   The summons requested, but apparently did not order, that Twitter keep the document private. 
   
   The logo for the parody immigration Twitter account @alt_uscis. @alt_uscis/Handout via Reuters 
   
   The social media company has a history of challenging government demands for information on its users, including a 2012 demand from New York prosecutors about an Occupy Wall Street protester. In that case, Twitter was forced to hand over tweets from the protester to a judge who threatened the company with sanctions, and the protester pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct. 
   
   Twitter sued the U.S. Department of Justice in 2014, seeking permission to publicly disclose more information about requests it gets from U.S. authorities for information about its users. The lawsuit was partly dismissed last year. 
   
   Among the lawyers representing Twitter in the latest case is Seth Waxman, a former high-ranking Justice Department official under President Bill Clinton.
target: – Twitter has sued the federal government after US Customs and Border Protection demanded user information for an account critical of the Trump administration, the Verge reports. Multiple Twitter accounts claiming to be run by disillusioned members of various government agencies sprung up following Trump's inauguration. One of them, @ALT_uscis, claimed to be run by one or more federal immigration employees, according to Reuters. CNN reports @ALT_uscis regularly accuses ICE agents of impropriety, such as taking bribes. Last month, Twitter received a fax from CBP demanding the login information, phone number, and mailing address of the user behind the account. In its lawsuit, Twitter says it and its users have a First Amendment right to "disseminate such anonymous or pseudonymous political speech." It claims releasing user information would have a "chilling effect" on other accounts critical of the government. The actual user behind @ALT_uscis is being represented by the ACLU, which says the government usually only asks for social media account information for a criminal matter or pressing national security concern. The CBP's request was based on a statute that mostly deal with taxes on the importation of goods. An attorney for the ACLU says the ability so speak anonymously against the government is a "bedrock American value." The government isn't commenting on the lawsuit.