ICE’s Digital Dragnet: Watching What You Post Online

ICE is looking to hire private contractors to monitor social media for “negative” sentiment about the agency and its top officials. That’s right: If you’ve ever tweeted, posted, or ranted about ICE online, you could be flagged. And if the feds deem your post suspicious? They’ll dig even deeper into your digital footprint.

According to contract documents obtained by The Intercept, ICE claims this is all about security—specifically, protecting its leadership from online threats. But the language in the procurement document makes it clear: This isn’t just about stopping threats of violence. It’s about keeping tabs on what people are saying about them.

The Digital Snitch Machine

ICE wants its contractors to track down users posting “negative” content about the agency and run full background checks on them. This includes:

• Their past social media activity

• Any “proclivity for violence” (whatever that means)

• Whether they’ve ever posted about weapons, violent acts, or even expressed sympathy for groups ICE considers “violent”

What qualifies as “negative” speech? Good question. The contract asks for monitoring of social media “sentiment,” categorizing posts as positive, neutral, or negative. And while making direct threats is obviously a red flag, simply criticizing ICE might be enough to put you on their radar.

Once flagged, the system will attempt to uncover a user’s real identity—compiling details like their partial legal name, work affiliations, school history, and even possible family members. The agency is also requesting facial recognition tech capable of scanning the internet for photos tied to a specific person.

A Growing Surveillance State

This isn’t ICE’s first rodeo when it comes to digital surveillance. The agency has previously worked with contractors like Giant Oak to sift through social media for so-called “derogatory” posts about the U.S., shaping immigration decisions based on online activity.

And it’s not just ICE. Government monitoring of online speech has been a bipartisan affair for years. This latest contract request mirrors one from 2020, which resulted in a $5.5 million contract with defense contractor Barbaricum. The difference now? The stakes are even higher, as ICE seeks more advanced tracking capabilities that blur the line between security and outright censorship.

Thought Police, Activated

Civil liberties advocates are sounding the alarm. Cinthya Rodriguez from immigrant rights group Mijente warns that ICE’s broad surveillance tactics are part of a long-standing pattern of mass monitoring and retaliation against critics.

“ICE’s attempt to have eyes and ears in as many places as we exist both online and offline should ring an alarm for all of us,” she says.

And she’s not alone. Calli Schroeder from the Electronic Privacy Information Center calls ICE’s surveillance expansion “terrifying,” especially given the government’s history of using digital monitoring to intimidate opponents.

Whether this contract moves forward or not, one thing is clear: The government is watching. And if your social media history contains anything less than glowing praise for ICE, you might already be on their list.