How DC protesters are protecting themselves online while calling out the Trump administration

Federal workers, government contractors and DMV residents alike are maintaining and making concrete steps to protect their digital footprint as they live their everyday lives and exercise their First Amendment rights.

Their concerns are rooted in the sitting administration’s rhetoric and actions. President Donald Trump has a history of calling for militarized responses to protests, especially in DC. For example, during his first term, he ordered US Park Police and National Guard troops to tear gas protestors at Lafayette Square. 

Given this history, as well as the president’s promises to deport millions of undocumented immigrants and jail his political rivals, some people demonstrating outside various federal government buildings in recent days told Technical.ly they’re changing online behaviors to speak out or otherwise safeguard their digital presence. 

Local organizer Trevor Smith of the group Answer Coalition said he’s not letting the Trump administration’s threats intimidate him from posting what he believes in online, and what his group publishes. 

A Prince George’s County native and current Northeast DC resident, he spoke at a demonstration outside the Office of Personnel Management calling out the impending and current mass layoffs at federal agencies. 

“We do have rights here that have been hard fought, and we shouldn’t just dismiss that,” Smith told Technical.ly at the protest organized by the Answer Coalition and the Party for Socialism and Liberation. “Trump makes a lot of statements. He says he’s going to do a lot of things that he can’t actually do, and we empower him when we start to run around and cower in fear just because of the statements he’s made.”

Smith added that he feels a responsibility to post how he feels online — often about the ongoing violence and destruction in Palestine — and organize because he’s white, and doesn’t face the same oppression as many others.

“Obviously all of us are careful with how we communicate in digital and in public spaces, but we don’t shy away from saying that we support the Palestinian liberation struggle,” he said. “We don’t shy away from calling Trump a fascist.”

At a separate protest calling out the recent cuts to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which is expected to leave thousands without jobs across the globe, many who spoke anonymously said they maintain a private setting on their social media accounts to protect themselves. 

One demonstrator, who asked to stay anonymous because they had been doxxed in the past after attending protests, takes measures to protect people close to them on social media — and fellow protestors. 

“I just want to keep it to me and who I am, rather than let you know who my friends are, who my family are,” they told Technical.ly.  

This person, who’s from Maryland, keeps all their social media accounts private and limits identifiable information they post on those accounts. They rarely mention friends or family members, as well. 

When they attend demonstrations, they make an effort to take pictures without people’s faces in them. They admit the practice isn’t foolproof, but it does make it more difficult to identify people. 

As the Trump administration continues to settle in, the Maryland protestor predicts the government will try harder to identify and punish people at protests. During the aftermath of the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests, more than 300 people faced destruction and rioting charges across the country. A majority of the defendants were Black, per the Intercept. 

“I think we saw some of that during the last Trump administration,” they said. “For example, anti-fascists being targeted and maligned, and potentially being declared terrorists, just by virtue of being anti-fascist.”

Another protester said they continue to keep their social media accounts private. They spoke on the condition of anonymity because they work at a private consulting firm and previously served on a USAID contract before the gutting of the agency. 

They have always kept their social media accounts private and only let friends follow them. They still wanted to come out and protest because they felt people were too lax about the slew of changes from the Trump administration. 

“I think that nobody here realizes the lever that was pulled, because it’s out of sight, out of mind,” the USAID contractor told Technical.ly. “And I just feel like everyone’s being really complacent in the face of all these really shocking, shocking decisions that are being made at the top.”

Another Marylander attending the USAID demonstration, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of concerns about being targeted since they are trans, doesn’t post on social media at all. President Trump has repeatedly targeted trans people, most recently banning trans women from women’s sports. 

They’ve been concerned about posting since the first Trump administration, they told Technical.ly. 

“I was always kind of worried,” they said, “[for] keeping myself safe, keeping people that I know [safe]. I don’t want people to know who I am.”