US government ends search for identity critical Twitter user

The US government has informed Twitter that it will stop the search for the identity of the person behind the critical Twitter account @ALT_USCIS. In response, Twitter dropped the lawsuit against the state.

The US government made this known to Twitter on Friday, after which the lawsuit was immediately canceled. That writes Recode. The US government called on Twitter in March to hand over personal data behind the account: IP address, phone number, name, and so on. It is not known exactly what the government intended to do with this information. Twitter based its lawsuit on the fact that freedom of expression was compromised by this move by the state.

The person behind it account regularly posts highly critical tweets about President Donald Trump’s immigration policies. More than 100,000 people followed the account before it hit the headlines. ALT_USCIS stands for ‘Alternative US Citizenship and Immigration Services’. Based on the content of the tweets, the person behind it may also be an employee of this department of the state.

The case has also sparked a condemnatory response from a Wyoming senator, who said the possibility that the request was made with the aim of taking away the person’s freedom of expression is “worrying.”

The case stands out because Trump himself is a well-known user of Twitter and often uses the social network to criticize people, organizations and countries. The president has so far said nothing about this matter.