“The tactic is intended to generate public embarrassment and deter immigration enforcement activity,” the FBI added. It did not provide any specifics on where or when it observed the supposed doxxing operation, and conceded all information in the memo was “not finally evaluated intelligence.”

The origin of the warning may well be a thinly sourced January 2026 post by the New York Post, which cited two TikTok posts from women stating they were using dating apps to identify ICE agents, as well as a single post by another female user urging gay men on Grindr to do the same. That post itself was inspired by another post from LibsOfTikTok, a homophobic and racist account that is ultra-popular with conservatives. The FBI wrote in the memo its information came from a “collaborative source.”

So a couple of people on the Internet joked about this and the FBI took it seriously.