Manhattan DA Subpoenas Twitter to Solve Vexing @BicycleLobby Case

1:43 PM EDT on August 8, 2014

The Twitterverse had a good laugh on July 22, when the Daily News and the Associated Press reported, in all seriousness, that the @BicycleLobby had claimed responsibility for planting white flags on top of the Brooklyn Bridge. Both outlets reversed course after it was pointed out that @BicycleLobby is a self-identified parody account. But it looks like some people in NYC law enforcement thought they still had a promising lead.

On July 23, the Manhattan DA's office issued a subpoena to Twitter requesting contact information and IP logs for the @BicycleLobby account and the offending Tweet. @BicycleLobby posted the subpoena online today.

The subpoena includes no details about why the DA's office is seeking this information, and doesn't mention the "white flag" incident except to identify the URL of the Tweet.

Here again is the Tweet we're talking about:

Earlier today we hoisted two white flags to signal our complete surrender of the Brooklyn Bridge bicycle path to pedestrians.
— Bike Lobby (@BicycleLobby) July 22, 2014

In the past, NYPD has asked the DA's office to issue subpoenas in cases involving social media accounts, even though the agency has subpoena power itself. The DA's office declined to comment about this subpoena, and NYPD's public information desk has not returned Streetsblog's inquiry.

No word yet on whether police and prosecutors are investigating @BicycleLobby's threats against the editor of the New Yorker:

We were very clear in our conversations with David Remnick & Françoise Mouly about this cover: no helmets allowed. pic.twitter.com/31keWNikGi
— All-Powerful Bicycle Lobby (Retired) (@BicycleLobby) July 21, 2014

Ben Fried

Ben Fried started as a Streetsblog reporter in 2008 and led the site as editor-in-chief from 2010 to 2018. He lives in Ditmas Park, Brooklyn, with his wife.

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