Both Google and Apple have initiated a crackdown on apps that allow people to report the location of ICE agents. According to a new report by 404 Media, Google confirmed the removal of the ICE-spotting app Red Dot from the Play Store.
Google says it removed the ICE-spotting app because it "shares the location of what it describes as a vulnerable group after a recent violent act against them connected to this sort of app."
Following Trump"s agenda to deport undocumented immigrants and the controversy surrounding ICE agents" behavior, some developers began designing apps that allow users to report the locations of ICE agents. Most of these apps rely primarily on user reports, though Red Dot"s website claims it supplements them with "verified reports from multiple trusted sources."
Google claims it did not receive any removal request from the Department of Justice. Still, the company"s policy "bans apps with a high risk of abuse," and the platform also doesn"t allow apps that incite violence against a specific group.
Meanwhile, Red Dot is not the only ICE-spotting app being removed from major app stores. Yesterday, Apple also pulled ICEBlock from the App Store — an app that similarly allows users to monitor and report ICE agents" activity.
ICEBlock rose to the top of the App Store this summer after U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem described it as an "obstruction of justice." At the same time, Attorney General Pam Bondi argued that the app does not constitute a form of protected speech.
Pam Bondi told FOX News that the agency had reached out to Apple to demand the removal of ICEBlock from the App Store because "ICEBlock is designed to put ICE agents at risk just for doing their jobs, and violence against law enforcement is an intolerable red line that cannot be crossed."
Joshua Aaron, the developer of ICEBlock, accused Apple of "Capitulating to an authoritarian regime", adding that ICEBlock activity is a form of protected speech under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution.