Tell Hootsuite: No Tech for ICE!

Vancouver-based Hootsuite promised to walk away from working with ICE in 2020. Now, they’re back — quietly signing a multi-million dollar contract to help ICE monitor social media, risking severe consequences for protestors and vulnerable communities.

Hootsuite is a B Corp, a certified standard that’s supposed to mean it stands for some values beside profit. Tell Hootsuite: moral values aren’t compatible with supporting ICE. They need to drop ICE contracts for good!

To: Hootsuite CEO Irina Novoselsky

CC: Hootsuite media and privacy desks

Please feel free to edit your letter below.

CEO

Irina

Novolselsky

Hootsuite

Dear Irina Novoselsky,

As a supporter of digital rights and corporate accountability, I am deeply concerned by recent reports that Hootsuite has entered into a multi-million dollar agreement to provide social media monitoring services to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), including Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

In 2020, your predecessor rightly cancelled a contract with ICE after employees and the public made it clear that helping an agency known for systemic human rights abuses is a violation of your company’s stated values. By facilitating the monitoring of social media for enforcement and "social listening," Hootsuite is putting its tools in the service of an agency that is flagrantly ignoring American laws and norms, in daily conflict with local government and communities in Minnesota, and has repeatedly murdered citizen protestors. It is credulous beyond reason for you to believe they’ll abide by any terms and conditions you set on your service and not use your tools to facilitate further abuse.

Being a certified B Corp means meeting the highest standards of social performance and public transparency. Providing the technical infrastructure for a "secret police" to monitor public dissent and migration patterns is fundamentally incompatible with those values.

I am calling on you to:

1. Immediately terminate all service agreements with the DHS, ICE, and CBP, whether direct or through third-party contractors like Seneca Strategic Partners;

2. Commit to a permanent ban on providing "social listening" or monitoring technology to law enforcement and immigration agencies;

3. Provide full transparency on how Hootsuite tools have already been used by these agencies to date.

We are watching. Don't let Hootsuite’s legacy be one of complicity with crushing democratic rights.

Sincerely,
{user_data~First Name} {user_data~Last Name}

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The Context: A Promise Broken

In 2020, following an internal revolt and massive public pressure, Hootsuite’s leadership made a historic choice: they scrapped a contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). At the time, the company admitted the deal "divided the company" and wasn't the kind of business they wanted to lead.¹

But the reversal didn't last.

New investigative reporting has revealed that Hootsuite is once again providing its social media management and "social listening" technology to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).² Under a new contract worth up to $2.8 million USD, Hootsuite’s tools—including its AI-powered Talkwalker monitoring software—are being used by agencies like ICE and CBP to track social media conversations and sentiment.³ Reports say that this is a “trojan horse”, with Hootsuite hoping to collect billions from future contracts. They have a ready buyer: documents show ICE is specifically seeking contractors to scan social networks to target individuals for enforcement.⁴

ICE today is not the ICE of 2020; if Hootsuite did not find working with ICE in keeping with their values then, they should not be contracting with an increasingly lawless organization of poorly trained, masked agents that are terrorizing communities and murdering activists today.

Many Hootsuite employees agree; reports are leaking of internal questions and dissent from official policy.⁵ But Hootsuite management needs to understand Canadians are horrified by their conduct and continuing or expanding this contract will irreparably damage Hootsuite’s reputation with current and future potential clients. If you haven’t told them that yet, speak up now.

Sources

Hootsuite initially agreed to ICE deal before pulling out – Betakit
Hootsuite providing services to Homeland Security agency years after ICE reversal – Business in Vancouver
Hootsuite could receive up to $2.8 million USD for contract with US immigration enforcement – BetaKit
ICE plans to hire dozens of contractors to scan social media – Wired
Hootsuite CEO says ICE contract will stand as long as agency honours terms and conditions – Globe and Mail

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