Unsurprisingly, the Trump administration wasn’t thrilled about this, and threatened to prosecute CNN for merely reporting on the app in July. “What they’re doing is actively encouraging people to avoid law enforcement activities and operations… What they’re doing is illegal,” said Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem. As NYT points out, it’s “unclear what crime that would amount to.” Regardless, Apple shared in a statement that the apps were taken down after the company was contacted by “law enforcement,” though it didn’t specify which agency (or agencies) it had been contacted by or which apps other than ICEBlock it had removed.
Attorney General Pam Bondi also told Fox News that the administration was looking into Joshua Aaron, the creator of the app, expressing that the government was “looking at him” and “he better watch out.” In an appearance on MSNBC, Aaron likened the current regime to Nazi Germany and explained that he made the app because he “had to do something to fight back.” He also compared its functionality to Waze, which allows users to report upcoming speed traps, explaining that he’s “not purporting violence against anybody. This is simply an early warning system.”
Aaron also knew these sorts of threats were coming. “I think whenever you push back against a regime that is purporting authoritarianism, pushing fascism and subverting the rule of law in our Constitution,” he said, “if you push back against them, you have to know they’re going to come after you in some way.”
