Technology

The Big Story

Facebook takes down page targeting ICE agents

Attorney General Pam Bondi said Tuesday that Facebook has removed a page used to "dox and target" Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in Chicago after the Justice Department reached out to the social media platform.

"The wave of violence against ICE has been driven by online apps and social media campaigns designed to put ICE officers at risk just for doing their jobs," Bondi wrote in a post on X.

"The Department of Justice will continue engaging tech companies to eliminate platforms where radicals can incite imminent violence against federal law enforcement," she added.

Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, said in a statement that the group was removed for "violating our policies against coordinated harm."

Chicago is the latest U.S. city to see an influx of ICE agents, as President Trump ramps up immigration enforcement across the country.

He took aim at the Windy City in early September and has since sought to send in members of the Illinois and Texas National Guards. These efforts have encountered legal hurdles.

Earlier this month, Apple removed ICEBlock, an app that allows users to track and report the location of ICE officers, from its app store citing safety risks.

Bondi said the DOJ reached out to Apple to seek the app's removal.

"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," she said at the time.

"This Department of Justice will continue making every effort to protect our brave federal law enforcement officers, who risk their lives every day to keep Americans safe."

Welcome to The Hill's Technology newsletter, I'm Julia Shapero — tracking the latest moves from Capitol Hill to Silicon Valley.

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Essential Reads

How policy will be impacting the tech sector now and in the future:

Altman says ChatGPT will soon allow erotica for adult users

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman on Tuesday said ChatGPT will soon allow erotica for adult users. "In a few weeks, we plan to put out a new version of ChatGPT that allows people to have a personality that behaves more like what people liked about 4o (we hope it will be better!)," Altman said in a Tuesday post on the social platform X. "If you want your ChatGPT to respond in a very human-like way, or use a ton of emoji, or act like a friend, …

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Instagram says it's safeguarding teens by limiting them to PG-13 content

Teenagers on Instagram will be restricted to seeing PG-13 content by default and won’t be able to change their settings without a parent’s permission, Meta announced on Tuesday. This means kids using teen-specific accounts will see photos and videos on Instagram that are similar to what they would see in a PG-13 movie — no sex, drugs or dangerous stunts, among others. "This includes hiding or not recommending posts …

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Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, stresses value of being 'on the side of good' on social media

Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, says after experiencing a rollercoaster relationship with social media she sees value in showing up online “on the side of good.” “I have had a very complicated relationship with social media,” the 44-year-old face of Netflix’s “With Love, Meghan” said while speaking at the Fortune Most Powerful Women summit in Washington on Tuesday. “I also recognize …

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Supreme Court lets stand Sandy Hook families' $1.4B defamation judgment against Alex Jones

The Supreme Court on Tuesday turned down conspiracy theorist Alex Jones's appeal of a roughly $1.4 billion defamation judgment he owes for falsely claiming the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting was a hoax. The brief order ends Jones's bid to stave off the staggering sum, which has plunged him into bankruptcy and could force him to give up airing his Infowars show. Jones's Supreme Court petition called it "financial …

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The Refresh

News we've flagged from the intersection of tech and other topics:

Google offers to tweak search results as EU antitrust fine looms (Reuters)
Hawley circulating draft AI chatbot bill (Axios)

Crypto Corner

US indicts 'mastermind' of crypto fraud scheme

The Justice Department said Tuesday that it has indicted the alleged orchestrator of a Cambodia-based crypto fraud scheme, seizing $15 billion in Bitcoin.

The indictment alleges that Chen Zhi, who also goes by Vincent, operated forced-labor compounds in Cambodia that conducted crypto investment fraud schemes — which resulted in billions in losses for victims in the U.S. and around the world — via his company, Prince Holding Group.

The DOJ filed a civil forfeiture complaint to seize 127,271 Bitcoin — worth roughly $15 billion. In a release, the DOJ called the filing the largest forfeiture action in the department's history.

Zhi, whose whereabouts are unknown, is charged with wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy. The DOJ release noted that if convicted, he faces up to 40 years in prison.

The Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control and Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, along with the United Kingdom's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, separately announced sanctions Tuesday on 146 targets within Prince Holding Group.

The Hill's Max Rego has more here.

Crypto Corner is a daily feature focused on digital currency and its outlook in Washington.

In Other News

Branch out with other reads on The Hill:

NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory laying off hundreds

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif., said it’s laying off 550 employees Tuesday as “part of a reorganization that began in July and not related to the current government shutdown.” “In order to best position JPL going forward, we are taking steps to restructure and establish an appropriate size to ensure future success,” JPL Director Dave Gallagher said in a statement …

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Op-eds in The Hill

Opinion related to tech submitted to The Hill: