An Illinois judge has sided with the creators of a Facebook group and mobile app that helped people keep tabs on ICE activity, finding that the Trump administration violated the creators’ First Amendment rights when it “coerced” Facebook and Apple into removing them.
Judge Jorge L. Alonso of the US District Court for Northern Illinois granted a preliminary injunction that prevents the feds from forcing tech companies to take action on content they find objectionable, allowing Facebook and Apple “to reach their own decisions,” he says.
At issue are the “ICE Sightings – Chicagoland” Facebook group created by Kassandra Rosado in January 2025 and the “Eyes Up” iOS app from the Kreisau Group, which went live in August. Both allowed people to post videos and information regarding ICE activity.
In October, however, Apple removed Eyes Up (as well as similar apps ICEBlock and Red Dot) and Facebook shuttered the Chicagoland group.
That came after influencer Laura Loomer posted about Chicagoland, tagging now-former Attorney General Pam Bondi and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
On Oct. 14, Bondi tweeted that Facebook removed the Chicagoland group “following outreach from [the Justice Department],” adding that the agency “will continue engaging tech companies to eliminate platforms where radicals can incite imminent violence against federal law enforcement.” Noem posted a similar message.
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These and other statements are what have landed the Trump administration in hot water. As the judge notes, neither Chicagoland nor Eyes Up had any significant violations on Facebook or the App Store. “Prior to October 14, out of thousands of posts and tens of thousands of comments made in the Chicagoland Facebook group, Facebook’s moderators found and removed only five posts and comments that purportedly violated Facebook’s guidelines,” the judge says. Apple, meanwhile, “had knowledge of the purpose of Eyes Up,” and still approved it.
What changed was pressure from Washington. Bondi and Noem “reached out to Facebook and Apple and demanded, rather than requested, that Facebook and Apple censor Plaintiff’s speech.” They “also intimated that Facebook and Apple may be subject to prosecution for failing to comply with [their] demands.”
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“Although these statements may not be direct threats to prosecute Facebook and Apple, they are intimations of a threat,” the judge found. “And thinly veiled threats such as these constitute sufficient evidence on which Plaintiffs are likely to succeed on their claim.”
The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, the nonprofit that brought the case, said on X that it is “extremely encouraged by this ruling.” As it notes, it’s just one step in the case, but “it bodes well for the future of our legal fight to ensure that the First Amendment protects the right to discuss, record, and criticize what law enforcement does in public.”
The case is somewhat ironic, since President Trump and the GOP heavily criticized the Biden administration for reaching out to social networks about COVID posts they considered to be misinformation. That debate made its way to the Supreme Court, which ruled in the Biden admin’s favor, finding that officials did not force social networks to take action.
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