ICEBlock developer files lawsuit against Trump administration over App Store removal

Joshua Aaron, ICEBlock developer, Sue Attorney General Pam Bondi, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kirsti Noem, Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons, White House “border czar” Tom Homan, and other federal officials over the Trump administration’s “unlawful threats” against Aaron and its actions to pressure Apple to pull the app from the App Store, which it did.

“We promised you we would respond. Well, today is the day we keep our promise,” reads a post from The official account of ICEBlock on Bluesky. Aaron, Apple and the Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment Edge. Justice Department spokeswoman Nathalie Baldassare said: “There is no comment beyond the Attorney General’s previous statements.”

ICEBlock, which allows users to anonymously report ICEBlock activity on their phones, skyrocketed in the App Store charts earlier this year after coverage of the app. In late June by CNN and The Trump administration’s subsequent response. According to the lawsuit, before releasing ICEBlock in April, Aaron had “multiple conversations” with Apple’s app review team, including the legal department, about the nature of the app.

But by late March, “Apple confirmed that ICEBlock was suitable for hosting and publishing on its App Store,” the lawsuit says. Before the CNN article, the app had about 20,000 users, but had more than 500,000 user downloads “in less than a week of the CNN story.”

Last week, Republicans on the House Homeland Security Committee sent messages to Apple and Google via apps like ICEBlock, Under the pretext of that “These applications pose serious risks to the safety of these officers, their families, and the security of their ongoing operations.” In September, Congressman Andy Ogles (R-TN). invoice This would make it a federal crime to “maliciously disseminate the personal information of ICE agents and other federal law enforcement officials in ways that expose them to the risk of targeted harassment, assault, and murder.”

Update, December 8Additional response from the Ministry of Justice.