The US government has backed down from its attempt to unmask an anonymous Twitter account that criticized the Trump administration, a victory for free speech advocates.

Just one day after Twitter sued the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to block its effort to gain identifying information about an anonymous account, @ALT_USCIS, attorneys from the justice department contacted Twitter to inform them that the disputed summons had been withdrawn.

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“The anonymous account holder is safe, for now,” said Jennifer Granick, the director of civil liberties at the Stanford Center for Internet and Society. “Perhaps the Department of Justice has learned a lesson. Perhaps the Trump administration may try to find the poster another way, for example by monitoring the government’s INS network.”

Just one day after Twitter sued the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to block its effort to gain identifying information about an anonymous account, @ALT_USCIS, attorneys from the justice department contacted Twitter to inform them that the disputed summons had been withdrawn.

 

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