The preliminary injunction order filed last week follows a mid-April ruling from U.S. District Judge Jorge L. Alonso in which he concluded that federal officials had effectively threatened Apple and Facebook with prosecution if they didn’t take “Eyes Up” app and the “ICE sightings – Chicagoland” Facebook group offline, citing multiple statements from former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and former Attorney General Pam Bondi.

“Although these statements may not be direct threats to prosecute Facebook and Apple, they are intimations of a threat,” Alonso wrote in the April 17 ruling. “And thinly veiled threats such as these constitute sufficient evidence on which Plaintiffs are likely to succeed on their claim.”

In the order issued May 5, Alonso reiterated that government officials were not allowed to “coerce or threaten” either technology giant with sanctions for reinstating the app or the Facebook group. The order also applies to previous government efforts to get the page and the app disabled and taken down, and gives DOJ and DHS supervisors a week to notify officers who had been part of that effort.

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“The First Amendment protects our right to share information about our government,” McDonnell said, “including on what law enforcement does in public.”

The government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The injunction doesn’t require Apple or Meta to reinstate the app or the Facebook page.