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Amid nationwide outrage over the killings of Renée Good and Alex Pretti, two House Democrats are pressing Google and Meta to answer for recruitment campaign posts that Immigration and Customs Enforcement has recently run on their platforms. The lawmakers, Reps. Becca Balint of Vermont and Pramila Jayapal of Washington, have accused the companies of being complicit with the Trump administration and enabling ICEs efforts to promote slogans thatthey sayhave also been employed by white nationalist and neo-Nazi groups. The inquiries were sent on January 21, and as of Monday, the platforms still had not responded. “What is going on with ICE is a five-alarm fire for our democracy, and these corporations are in it up to their necks,” Balint tells Fast Company. “They can no longer claim they ‘didn’t know.’ They are not only profiting from cruelty but actively helping to perpetuate it at everyone else’s expense. We expect answers, and we expect them now.” Under the Trump administration, ICE has sought to rapidly scale up recruitment. The agency aimed to spend $100 million on the effort, according to a document reported by The Washington Post last year, and it outlined a wartime recruitment strategy that included targeting people who show interest in firearms, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) events, and podcasts focused on patriotism. ICE has run about 65 different advertisements on Google since the beginning of the year, according to the platforms ad library. These posts include a $50,000 signing bonus offer, opportunities to Defend the Homeland, and heavy use of Uncle Sam imagery. ICEwhich Rolling Stone reports has spent at least a few hundred thousand dollars running ads on Meta platforms in recent monthshas used its Facebook account to post provocative imagery alongside recruitment posts. These include posts featuring a picture of knights with swords alongside the text, THE ENEMIES ARE AT THE GATES,” as well as another displaying a man riding a horse and the phrase, WELL HAVE OUR HOME AGAIN.” Some of the posts are more explicit, including one showing a man carrying the Betsy Ross flag with the message, SEND THEM BACK. The politicians’ letter to the companies aims to draw a direct line between Big Techs ad systems and the normalization of rhetoric that civil rights groups say echoes white supremacist propaganda. Just last week, DHS posted a recruitment ad on Instagram proclaiming well have our home again, which is a song popularized in neo-Nazi spaces and used in white nationalist calls for a race war. The same lyrics were found in the manifesto of Ryan Christopher Palmeter, the white supremacist who shot and killed three black people in Jacksonville in 2023, wrote Balint and Jayapal in their January letter to Meta. It appears Meta is complicit in furthering this content on behalf of the Trump administration. These Facebook posts have racked up tens of thousands of likes or shares. Though Google, which also owns YouTube, and Meta, which owns both Facebook and Instagram, are the platforms the lawmakers focused on, theyre not the only place where ICE has posted content. The agency has posted job ads or recruitment content on LinkedIn, which didnt respond to a request for comment. It’s not immediately clear that these platforms are the primary way the agency is actually finding new recruits. Still, the letter highlights that platforms stand to be drawn into the nationwide discussion over ICE and its tactics. The companies confirmed receipt but havent responded yet, Balints office tells Fast Company. Meta declined Fast Companys request for comment, and Google did not respond to multiple requests for comment. The silence isnt necessarily surprising. Tech companies have a real interest in not ruffling feathers with the Trump administration, and some platforms have, in the aftermath of the 2020 election, already done a major about-face about their decisions to boot or suppress the presidents account. Balint’s and Jayapals letter isnt a new strategy for lawmakers either. Members of both parties have previously pushed platforms to censor or restrain posts that they find odious. In highly polarized times, critics argue that this approach essentially amounts to working the refs, and it seems unlikely Google and Meta would move to censor an official government agency.
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E-Commerce
Ignaz Semmelweis was a physician working in a maternity ward in the 1840s. He noticed something disturbing: women giving birth in the ward staffed by doctors and medical students died from “childbed fever” at rates of 10-35%, while a nearby ward staffed by midwives had death rates under 4%. The key difference was that doctors were coming straight from performing autopsies to delivering babies, without washing their hands. They would dissect cadavers in the morning, then examine pregnant women in the afternoon with just a quick rinse. In 1847, Semmelweis instituted a policy requiring doctors to wash their hands with a chlorine solution between the autopsy room and the maternity ward. Death rates plummeted dramatically to around 1-2%. Great news, right? But instead of celebration, the medical community mocked Semmelweis for his claim that handwashing was worth the time and effort. He was driven out of the profession, and the childbed fever deaths went back up. It took more than 50 years after his discovery for handwashing to go mainstream in hospitals. {"blockType":"mv-promo-block","data":{"imageDesktopUrl":"https:\/\/images.fastcompany.com\/image\/upload\/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit\/wp-cms-2\/2025\/12\/speakeasy-desktop.png","imageMobileUrl":"https:\/\/images.fastcompany.com\/image\/upload\/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit\/wp-cms-2\/2025\/12\/speakeasy-mobile.png","eyebrow":"","headline":"\u003Cstrong\u003ESubscribe to Urbanism Speakeasy\u003C\/strong\u003E","dek":"Join Andy Boenau as he explores ideas that the infrastructure status quo would rather keep quiet. To learn more, visit \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/urbanismspeakeasy.com\/\u0022\u003Eurbanismspeakeasy.com.\u003C\/a\u003E","subhed":"","description":"","ctaText":"SIGN UP","ctaUrl":"http:\/\/urbanismspeakeasy.com\/","theme":{"bg":"#f5f5f5","text":"#000000","eyebrow":"#9aa2aa","subhed":"#ffffff","buttonBg":"#000000","buttonHoverBg":"#3b3f46","buttonText":"#ffffff"},"imageDesktopId":91453933,"imageMobileId":91453932,"shareable":false,"slug":""}} The case for cameras Right now, in early 2026, state legislatures across the country are trying to outlaw a proven treatment for traffic injuries and fatalities. Speed enforcement cameras are proven to reduce vehicle speeds and reduce crashes. According to the US Department of Transportations Proven Safety Countermeasures initiative, fixed speed cameras can cut crashes on urban principal arterials by up to 54% for all crashes and 47% for injury crashes. For obvious reasons, school zones are the first place communities tend to install safety cameras. Speeding near schools creates unacceptable risks for kids crossing streets or waiting at bus stops. Montgomery County, Marylands, automated speed enforcement program found that cameras reduced the likelihood of a crash involving a fatality or incapacitating injury by 19%, decreased the chance of drivers exceeding the limit by more than 10 mph by up to 59%, and fostered long-term changes in driver behavior that substantially lowered overall deaths and injuries. In New York City school zones, fixed cameras have reduced speeding by up to 63% during active enforcement hours. Many other case studies demonstrate similar outcomes. The bottom line is automated speed enforcement saves lives. Pre-installation surveys at some Virginia schools revealed a whopping 95% of drivers were blazing through school zones at 10+ mph during arrival and dismissal. Nearly every driver was risking the lives of young kids, including parents. In Fairfax County, the safety cameras at Key Middle School issued 7,429 citations from August 2024 to May 2025. But after the cameras had been in place for a while, average speeds fell from 33.1 mph to 27.8 mph. People need consequences for dangerous driving. Automated cameras deliver fair, unbiased enforcement where officers can’t patrol constantly, holding reckless drivers accountable in high-risk areas like school zones while freeing up police for other duties. Bills to ban But while automated enforcement is saving lives, politicians in multiple states are advancing bills to ban, restrict, or phase out speed cameras. Virginia: SB 297 (introduced January 13, 2026) repeals the authority for law-enforcement agencies to use photo speed monitoring devices. It has been referred to the Senate Committee on Transportation and remains under consideration in the 2026 Regular Session. Arizona: SCR 1004 (advanced through the Senate Appropriations, Transportation, and Technology Committee in mid-January 2026) aims to place a statewide ban on photo radar enforcement (including speed cameras) on the November 2026 ballot for voter decision. Georgia: HB 225 repeals all laws authorizing automated traffic enforcement safety devices (speed cameras) in school zones, with an effective date of July 1, 2028, to phase out existing contracts. Reintroduced in the 2025-2026 Regular Session (published January 13, 2026), it previously passed the House 129-37 in 2025 but stalled in the Senate. Texas: Building on the state’s existing prohibitions on most fixed speed and red-light cameras (banned statewide in 2019), recent efforts like HB 2810 (introduced in the 2025 session but died) sought to expand bans to include portable devices enforcing speed limits. Similar measures could resurface in the 90th Legislature starting January 2027, driven by complaints about distractions from flashes and potential safety risks in local deployments. Minnesota: Rep. Greg Davids (R-Preston) announced in late 2025 that he would author a bill to ban automated speed cameras statewide, to be introduced in the 2026 legislative session. This follows Rochester’s City Council narrowly approving a request for a speed camera pilot program, highlighting opposition amid concerns over enforcement fairness and local authority. Robust evidence from federal and local sources supports speed cameras as effective for slowing drivers and preventing crashesespecially in child-heavy school zones. Its a shame to see politicians working to dismantle them. Speed enforcement cameras save lives. The victims and survivors of traffic violence deserve better than the misguided bills that will directly lead to more life-altering crashes. {"blockType":"mv-promo-block","data":{"imageDesktopUrl":"https:\/\/images.fastcompany.com\/image\/upload\/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit\/wp-cms-2\/2025\/12\/speakeasy-desktop.png","imageMobileUrl":"https:\/\/images.fastcompany.com\/image\/upload\/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit\/wp-cms-2\/2025\/12\/speakeasy-mobile.png","eyebrow":"","headline":"\u003Cstrong\u003ESubscribe to Urbanism Speakeasy\u003C\/strong\u003E","dek":"Join Andy Boenau as he explores ideas that the infrastructure status quo would rather keep quiet. 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Firefox has a reputation as the browser of choice for power users who prefer to customize everything and it just gave users one very important new option. While most other tech companies shove AI enhancements down their users throats, Mozilla is introducing a way to disable Firefoxs AI features outright a boon for anyone searching for a safe haven from the AI software onslaught. Starting on February 24 with the Firefox 148 update, users will be able to toggle AI off in a new AI controls area in the desktop browsers settings menu. To disable AI, you wont even need to dig around and disable features one by one: Mozilla describes the forthcoming option as a single place to block current and future generative AI features across Firefox. If youd like to customize Firefoxs AI offerings, the browser will also allow you to check and enable individual features. In a blog post announcing the option, Mozilla recognizes that not everyone wants to use AI, but it will continue to work on AI features for Firefox users who do want them. The options on the way later this month will allow Firefox users to toggle AI on or off for translation tools, alt text descriptions in PDFs, tab groups, link preview summaries, and for a sidebar feature that incorporates chatbots like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini. Mozilla has been tinkering with AI product experiments in Firefox for a bit now. The company began rolling out access to AI chatbots a year ago with Firefox 135 and last September invited iOS users to shake to summarize a website with AI. Mozilla walks a tightrope on AI Mozilla announced its plan to splice AI features more deeply into Firefox late last year, a decision panned by some of its users. At the time, the company emphasized that any AI tools would be opt-in and designed to keep users in full control. … We believe AI should be built like the internet open, accessible, and driven by choice so that users and the developers helping to build it can use it as they wish, help shape it and truly benefit from it, Mozilla wrote in the announcement. The Firefox maker just appointed a new CEO as the company promotes its image as the worlds most trusted software company. Mozilla tapped Anthony Enzor-DeMeo, previously the general manager of Firefox, to step into the role. Enzor-DeMeo described the browser as the next battleground for AI in a statement paired with the news. Its where people live their online lives and where the next eras questions of trust, data use, and transparency will be decided. Firefox users are paying close attention. Mozillas connections to the open source community and its emphasis on user choice have built a deep well of brand loyalty over the years. Still, AI is a divisive technology, and one that Firefox users arent all sold on a fact the browser maker is well aware of. We believe choice is more important than ever as AI becomes a part of peoples browsing experiences, Head of Firefox Ajit Varma wrote in Mozillas announcement on AI controls. What matters to us is giving people control, no matter how they feel about AI.
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