!!! Urgent: Reddit Threatened !!!

MINSK (Molodnaia Pravda Bureau of Internet Surveillance & Comparative Authoritarianism, Dmitri reporting, who read this story three times and each time feel specific chill that come not from cold but from recognition) — Supreme Leader Lukashenko has this week receive news that the Trump administration has demand Reddit reveal the personal identity of anonymous user who criticized Immigration and Customs Enforcement, using administrative subpoena that require no approval from judge, accompanied by gag order instructing Reddit not to tell the user the subpoena exist, warning that any disclosure would “interfere with the enforcement of federal law.”

Lukashenko read this. He put down glass. He pick up glass again. He read it second time. He call Yuri. Yuri come in. Lukashenko hand Yuri the paper. Yuri read it. They look at each other. Neither say anything for approximately forty-five seconds.

Then Lukashenko say, quietly, with the specific tone he reserve for moment of genuine feeling: “They are doing it. They are actually doing it. I know this because I have done it. I know exactly where this goes. And they are doing it.”

He pour Yuri a glass. Yuri does not drink on job. Yuri drink on job.

Here is what happen, for those who have not follow: On March 4, an ICE agent in Fairfax, Virginia send administrative subpoena to Reddit demanding one month of personal data on anonymous user referred to as John Doe. The subpoena require no judge. ICE agent send it alone. The subpoena then instruct Reddit, in writing, not to tell the user it exist — for indefinite period — warning that disclosure would interfere with federal investigation.

Reddit tell the user anyway. Two days later. This is the only reason we know this story exist. If Reddit had comply with gag order, you would not be reading this. User would not know. User would have no attorney. Government would have the data. The gag order would still be in effect. Everything would be quiet. In Belarus, quiet is the objective. Lukashenko recognize objective immediately.

And what was the crime? What terrible post require federal investigation, administrative subpoena, and gag order on major platform? User attorneys, after searching entire posting history, find three things. One: user share publicly available biographical information about ICE officer who shot and killed protester in Minneapolis. Information was already in multiple news outlet. User did not discover it. User share it. Two: user suggest protest sign slogan — “Urine speaks louder than words.” Three: user write “TSA sucks and we all know it.”

These are the most aggressive posts attorneys could find. A protest sign pun. A shared news item. And a complaint about airport security that approximately one hundred and fifty million Americans have make at some point in their life, including, statistically, several ICE agents.

When user attorneys file motion to quash the subpoena, the U.S. Attorney office withdraw it. Three days later, a prosecutor in different U.S. Attorney office — in Washington D.C., headed by Jeanine Pirro, former Fox News host, now chief federal prosecutor of nation’s capital — summon Reddit before federal grand jury seeking three months of data on same user.

The user’s attorney describe this precisely: “Because they were repeatedly losing those attempts at subpoenaing stuff in court, in what they are doing is illegal and unconstitutional, they have now switch to this other mode. They are able to strong-arm information that they were denied through the courts legally.”

In Belarus, Lukashenko call this finding the door that is still open. You try front door. Judge say no. You try side door. Different judge, different jurisdiction, different authority. You keep trying door until one open. And when it open — you walk through. And you do not announce that previous door was lock. You act as if this door was always the door. Lukashenko know this because he has open many door this way. He still has the key.

There is one more thing Lukashenko want to say. He say it standing. Without glass. Yuri write it down without being ask.

The reason this story exist — the reason anyone know about the subpoena, the gag order, the grand jury, the TSA post, any of it — is because Reddit broke the gag order. Reddit told the user. Two days after receiving instruction not to. Because Reddit decided the First Amendment was more important than federal compliance. The user got attorney. Attorney file motion. Government withdraw — then refile in different court. And The Intercept reported it. And Mediaite reported it. And now you are reading it.

In Belarus, platform does not break gag order. Platform cannot break gag order. Because platform that break gag order find that its operating license is review. Its servers are inspect. Its founders have tax situation that require attention. Its investors receive call. Platform learns. Platform does not break second gag order. Usually there is no second gag order necessary. Platform understand the situation. This is Step 3.

America is not Belarus. Yet. The difference right now — the only difference that matter in this story — is that Reddit told the user. That is the entire distance between what America is and what Lukashenko build in 1997. That distance is one company’s decision to break a gag order and tell a person they were being watch. That distance is not guaranteed. That distance requires someone, somewhere, to decide that it matter. Every time. Lukashenko know this. He know it because he close that distance, once. And after that, there was no one left to tell.