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DOJ pressured Apple to remove ICE-accountability archive app Eyes Up from the App Store

On October 3, 2025, Apple removed Eyes Up — an app built by Indiana resident Mark Hodges through the Kreisau Group that archived publicly posted videos and news reports documenting ICE enforcement activity — from the App Store, one day after Apple pulled ICEBlock under U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi's public takedown demand. Apple had reviewed and approved Eyes Up in August 2025 without objection and gave no legal basis for the removal beyond contact from law enforcement. Hodges said the administration was "embarrassed by how many incriminating videos we have."

Jurisdiction
Federal
Location
Washington, D.C.

Abuses documented

Actors

On October 3, 2025, Apple removed Eyes Up — an app built by Brown County, Indiana resident Mark Hodges through his company, the Kreisau Group, that archived publicly posted videos and news reports documenting ICE enforcement activity rather than providing real-time tracking — from the App Store. Apple had reviewed and approved the app in August 2025 without objection; its removal came immediately after contact from law enforcement, in the same window as Apple's removal of ICEBlock one day earlier following U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi's public takedown demand. Hodges said: "Our goal is government accountability, we aren't even doing real-time tracking. I think the [Trump] admin is just embarrassed by how many incriminating videos we have."

Updates

2026-04-18 — Federal judge found government conduct toward Eyes Up likely unconstitutional coercion [2, 4]

U.S. District Judge Jorge Luis Alonso (N.D. Ill.) issued a preliminary injunction in the consolidated case Rosado v. Bondi, brought by Hodges/Kreisau Group and a second plaintiff whose Facebook ICE- sightings group was also removed, finding the government's contacts with Apple and Meta likely constituted unconstitutional coercion rather than lawful persuasion. The court found officials "reached out to Facebook and Apple and demanded, rather than requested," that the platforms censor the plaintiffs' speech, and barred the government from continuing to pressure the platforms while the case proceeds.

Why we recorded this

The First Amendment protects the right to document and archive government conduct, including ICE enforcement activity, in public. Apple approved Eyes Up in August 2025 and reversed course only after contact from law enforcement tied to the same demand campaign that removed ICEBlock a day earlier, taking down an accountability archive without any legal finding that it was unlawful. Using informal government contact with a platform to suppress previously-approved, lawful speech substitutes pressure for legal process and chills documentation of law enforcement conduct.

Sources

  1. Apple Banned an App That Simply Archived Videos of ICE Abuses — 404 Media primary accessed July 9, 2026
  2. Federal judge rules in favor of Indiana man who launched app tracking ICE — WRTV primary accessed July 9, 2026
  3. Apple Takes Down New ICE App That Archives Agents Arrest Videos Following ICEBlock Removal — Tech Times secondary accessed July 9, 2026
  4. Government Likely Violated First Amendment in Getting Apple and Google to Block ICE Sightings Content, Court Holds — Reason (Volokh Conspiracy) investigative accessed July 9, 2026

See also