ICE-Tracking App Skyrockets in Popularity After Trump Team Freaks Out
ICEBlock, an app that alerts users to nearby ICE presence, has launched to the top of the App Store.
Trump officials have learned a lesson from the Streisand phenomenon: attempts to conceal information only increase their diffusion. Their outrage over IceBlock, a free iPhone app that monitors the activity of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, propelled the App to the top of Apple’s App Store on Tuesday.
On Monday, CNN published a article about IceBlock, which collects anonymous information about sightings of ICE agents to create an “early warning system,” according to the app’s developer, Joshua Aaron. Users have turned to IceBlock as fear has grown in communities where ICE has stepped up its operations in recent months, often by masked, plainclothes agents conducting arrests and searches.
During an appearance on Fox News Monday night, Attorney General Pam Bondi criticized CNN for its reporting and attacked Aaron: “He’s sending a message to criminals in the presence of our federal agents. He can’t do that. We’re watching him. He better watch out, because this is not protected free speech. This is threatening the lives of law enforcement officers across the country.”
The app was also condemned by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Immigration and Customs Enforcement Acting Director Todd Lyons, and Trump administration border official Tom Homan.
As of Tuesday morning, ICEBlock had climbed to the top of the App Store’s free apps chart, becoming the number one free social media app. As of Tuesday afternoon, the app remained popular on social media and appeared to have more than tripled its user base: while CNN reported Monday that the app had over 20,000 users, Aaron announced Tuesday afternoon that it had surpassed 70,000.
Aaron thanked the app’s users, saying, “I’m so grateful for the popularity of this simple idea. I just wanted to help protect people and resist this authoritarian drift.”
