Mysteries remain over alt Twitter accounts after feds back down

Less than a day after being sued by Twitter in a bid to protect one of its users’ identities, federal investigators withdrew their demand that the social media company unmask one of several accounts claiming to be federal workers with views critical of President Trump.

On March 14, a Customs agent had ordered Twitter to produce all records related to the account, including log-in information, associated emails, phone numbers, mailing addresses and IP addresses.

“The ... request appears to be a significant escalation of the government’s pressure on tech companies for information on individuals,” Robert Cattanach, a former trial attorney for the Department of Justice, said in an email Friday.

[...] government demands on tech companies have been justified by claimed national security concerns or high-profile law enforcement investigations like the San Bernardino shooting.



Because nearly all such accounts are run anonymously or by people using a pseudonym, experts said, followers should be wary of the insider knowledge they purport to have.

According to Twitter’s guidelines, verified accounts must provide the company with a verifiable phone number, email address, biography, profile photo and birthday.