A Secret Grand Jury Is Seeking the Identity of a Reddit User Who Criticized ICE
www.jezebel.com
Reddit itself has been subpoenaed by a secret Washington grand jury, with the government wanting to know the identity of a specific user.

Reason number 5,386 to delete your Reddit account and encourage your friends & loved ones to do the same.

  • Manjushri@piefed.socialEnglish
    1071·
    1 day ago

    OP’s headline does not match the article linked in any way. I don’t know if the site changed the article or what, but the Grand Jury has not ordered Reddit to turn over any data.

    a subpoena issued by federal prosecutors to the management of Reddit, representatives of the site have been ordered to appear before a grand jury in Washington D.C., with an April 14 deadline set in an attempt to compel Reddit to volunteer personal data and the identity of a user who had the temerity to lightly criticize Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on the platform.

    Essentially, they have ordered Reddit to send representatives to be badgered into volunteering the user’s information.

    • GamingChairModel@lemmy.worldEnglish
      21·
      5 hours ago

      No, it’s not volunteering, at least not anymore.

      Subpoena is legal Latin for “under penalty,” because noncompliance with a subpoena carries a penalty.

      Originally, it was an information request from the feds, and Reddit refused. Then they escalated to getting a grand jury subpoena (which means they got a bunch of normal citizens to agree that the information was relevant to a criminal investigation), so now noncompliance carries a penalty.

      Reddit notified the users, who hired their own lawyers, who are resisting the subpoena and will litigate it to where they need a judge to decide whether Reddit will have to turn the information over.

      That’s the process for these things, and we’re a couple steps in already.

    • SocialMediaRefugee@lemmy.worldEnglish
      5·
      17 hours ago

      So they are using a form of harassment? Get them to look at the cost of sending someone vs just betraying one user. Of course the blowback as reddit shows it would betray your anonymity could be a pr disaster.

      If the article is correct then the whole demand is truly bizarre. There seems to be nothing in the reddit user’s postings to warrant this amount of concern. The fact that his comments are innocuous may be to set a precedent that any criticism, regardless of severity, can be prosecuted or at least intimidation.

    • mechoman444@lemmy.worldEnglish
      421·
      1 day ago

      These kinds of posts and titles on Lemmy are a serious issue that I’ve noticed over the last 6 to 7 months.

      There appears to be a serious issue with moderation and a lot of Lemmy subs.

      I’m not calling for any Reddit styled moderation here. Absolutely not. I’m just saying something needs to happen here to better moderate these subs.

      • GreenBeanMachine@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        4 hours ago

        Some communities have bots that check post title and article title match, if not the post is auto-removed. Happened to me a while back when I simply tried to shorten a really long title.

        IMO this bot should be mandatory for all communities

        • mechoman444@lemmy.worldEnglish
          3·
          17 hours ago

          One thing I love about eBay is that buyers can also be rated by sellers.

          That single handedly resolved many issues.

          I’m just saying… You’re right.

      • pelespirit@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        12·
        1 day ago

        It’s really easy for one of the mods in this community to make the op fix the headline or remove the post. Did anyone report it?

      • 1984@lemmy.todayEnglish
        51·
        22 hours ago

        Isnt it up to the readers of the article to notice and upvote things like this? Lemmy is just a link aggregator. Mods dont read every post. I bet almost everyone has a full time job or student life too.

        Report it and upvote the problem and it will be fixed by a mod eventually, and readers will be aware until that happens.