ICE Implements 'Masked Engagement' Program for Social Media Surveillance Using False Identities

The new program, called 'masked engagement,' allows homeland security officers to assume false identities and interact with users—friending them, joining closed groups, and gaining access to otherwise private postings, photographs, friend lists and more.

A senior Department of Homeland Security official tells me that over 6,500 field agents and intelligence operatives can use the new tool, a significant expansion of undercover techniques.

Homeland security is increasing the use of undercover techniques to infiltrate and interact with social media users in order to collect intelligence and target individuals, documents leaked to me reveal.

The program represents a major escalation in government surveillance capabilities, allowing agents to operate covertly in digital spaces previously considered private.