ICEBlock app sues Trump administration for censorship and 'unlawful threats'
ICEBlock app sues Trump administration for censorship and 'unlawful threats'
The developer of ICEBlock, an iPhone app that anonymously tracks the presence of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, has sued the Trump administration for free speech violations after Apple removed the service from its app store under demands from the White House.
The suit, filed on Monday in federal court in Washington, asks a judge to declare that the administration violated the First Amendment when it threatened to criminally prosecute the app's developer and pressured Apple to make the app unavailable for download, which the tech company did in October.
Following Apple ejecting ICEBlock, Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement that "we reached out to Apple today demanding they remove the ICEBlock app from their App Store — and Apple did so."
Lawyer Noam Biale, who filed the suit against the administration, said Bondi's remarks show the government illegally pressuring a private company to suppress free speech.
Sure, it's a first amendment violation on the part of the US government, but even if ICEBlock wins the case, it would then be Apple's choice whether or not to reinstate the app. With the Trump administration's hostile position on it known already, what incentive would Apple have to distribute it?
Assuming the ICEBlock devs win the case, I wonder if the judge would order Apple to reinstate it. Apple was clearly fine with the app, up until they were threatened by trump. But given how trump doesn't give a shit about what the courts say, Apple may refrain from reinstating the app as the threats still loom; unless they're told to do so otherwise...
I guess it would depend on what the judge says.