Since President Trump was reelected, Immigration and Customs Enforcement has gone on a rampage to detain and deport people in our communities. ICE has come under massive scrutiny for confronting and detaining undocumented with no criminal history, legal immigrants, or U.S. citizens in manners that are violent and dangerous. Especially after the murders of Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti, people have come to realize anyone could be a target of ICE aggression.
In late 2025, reports have been shared stating ICE is taking steps to implement surveillance programs to monitor social media activity across Instagram, TikTok, X, and Facebook. These AI-based programs (Zignal Labs and SocialNet) are planned to collect social media information 24/7 from private and public platforms, and build databases to scout people out for potential deportation. Contractors are to be put in place to constantly look through social media platforms, selecting any information they find to be placed into an ICE dossier. These methods, ICE claims, are to pinpoint a target’s location by “identifying aliases and detecting patterns that traditional methods might miss”. Even though active cases are the primary targets, friends, family, and others close to the target are subjected to AI-scans. Those fighting against ICE, such as activists and protesters, can also be identified can subject to intelligence collecting.
It is important that in this age of constant surveillance that citizens monitor what we say or post online, although these implemented measures can be seen as infringements on the First Amendment. Here are the specific steps you can take to lessen the chance you are targeted by ICE online.
Watch Your Footprint and the Road Ahead
ICE will be tracking all of the information you post, so it is best to take precautionary measures to minimize harm against yourself. Be cautious about what you post in the future and consider deleting anything that could be used against you by ICE. Also be advised to examine if publicly posting about politics is still comfortable for you. If not, refrain from posting about political affairs or under your real identity so your views are not entirely exposed.
Protect Your Privacy
To add on the previous point, posting any publicly can put put you more at risk to be targeted. To mitigate this, think about completely privatize your account and make your posts available to only those close to you. Make sure only individuals close to you can view your content and removed any unknown pages.
Change Identifiable Information
Your accounts are full of personally identifiable information, so it is most effective to change it to stop ICE from adding it to their database. Be sure to create a different email address (aside from your main) to be used for your accounts, and change personal information, such as real name, photos, location, phone number, email address, and birthday so it cannot be tied to you.
Safeguard Your Device
Many protesters, legal recorders, and witnesses are out on the streets in the frontlines of ICE confrontations. ICE will additionally be at this year’s Super Bowl and even the Winter Olympics in Italy, so they will be in densely populated areas with many people denouncing them. Before attending any event where ICE could be located, log out of social media accounts, turn off your location, and shut down your phone before traveling.
Inform Those Around You
The information you hold is important, and it makes a bigger impact if it is shared. Make sure to tell family, friends, neighbors, coworkers, and those who are close to you about how they can protect themselves.
Although it is advised to take these steps, it is unfortunate our society is told to undermine our own free speech. It should be stated we at C4OSL believe the public should make posts and not be concerned with having a target on your back. It is vital, now more than ever, to make sure you are safe if you encounter these agents, in-person or online. Think twice about what you post and do on the Internet so you can stay out of sight of ICE’s radar. Be cautious, be safe, and remember the ICE age will melt.
Citations
Anguiano, Dani. “ICE Agents Expected to Be Deployed for Super Bowl in California, Officials Say.” The Guardian, 28 Jan. 2026, www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/jan/28/ice-super-bowl-lx-operations.
Bennett, Nicole M. “ICE’s Plan to Monitor Social Media around the Clock Will Turn Everyday Speech into Political Surveillance | Milwaukee Independent.” Milwaukee Independent, 27 Nov. 2025, www.milwaukeeindependent.com/syndicated/ices-plan-monitor-social-media-around-clock-will-turn-everyday-speech-political-surveillance/.
Cameron, Dell. “ICE Wants to Build out a 24/7 Social Media Surveillance Team.” WIRED, 3 Oct. 2025, www.wired.com/story/ice-social-media-surveillance-24-7-contract/.
COMMUNITY ADVISORY Social Media, Criminalization, and Immigration. National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild, 3 Apr. 2017.
Cope, Sophia, et al. “Digital Privacy at the U.S. Border: Protecting the Data on Your Devices.” Electronic Frontier Foundation, 9 Mar. 2017, www.eff.org/wp/digital-privacy-us-border-2017#social-media-online-accounts.
Gutierrez, Jose Guillermo, and Rachel Levinson-Waldman. “Documents Reveal Widespread Use of Fake Social Media Accounts by DHS | Brennan Center for Justice.” Brennan Center for Justice, 5 Sept. 2023, www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/documents-reveal-widespread-use-fake-social-media-accounts-dhs.
Henderson, Devon. “ICE Agents Will Be at Winter Olympics to Provide Security Help for Vance, Rubio.” The New York Times, 27 Jan. 2026, www.nytimes.com/athletic/7001882/2026/01/27/ice-agents-olympics-security-milan/.
NBC4 Washington. “Could ICE Start Monitoring Social Media Pages 24/7? Immigration Attorney Explains | NBC4 Washington.” YouTube, 13 Oct. 2025, www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAAo3mSy310.
Robinson, Shaun. “ICE Plans to Boost Its Surveillance on Social Media Using Contractors in Vermont.” VTDigger, 6 Oct. 2025, vtdigger.org/2025/10/06/ice-plans-to-boost-its-surveillance-on-social-media-using-contractors-in-vermont/.