Scrawled in chalk outside Hootsuite’s office in Vancouver’s Mount Pleasant neighbourhood are messages denouncing the company’s contract with U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, or ICE.
It’s part of a growing backlash against the Vancouver-based company’s decision to provide social media monitoring services to ICE amid the agency’s aggressive deportation push.
As first reported on Jan. 15 by Business in Vancouver, ICE has a US$1-million contract with American contracting firm Seneca Strategic Partners LLC to procure services from Hootsuite.
Since BIV first broke that news, a second Minneapolis resident — nurse Alex Pretti — was shot by federal officers during ICE operations, following the death of Renee Good on Jan. 7.
It’s the second time Hootsuite has come under fire for working with the U.S. agency. In 2020, the company’s then-CEO cancelled a contract with ICE after strong employee and public backlash.
But six years later, the company shows no sign of cutting its ties with ICE.
Joel Bakan, a University of British Columbia law professor, said the decision marks a shift in how much the company values social responsibility.
“It’s heinous and it’s wrong, but it’s totally to be expected from companies whose primary legal obligation is to serve the interests of their investors, which means their bottom lines,” Bakan said.
Management has concluded “that whatever harms they’re likely to suffer will be outweighed by the benefits.”
According to a public U.S. government spending database, ICE’s contract to start using Hootsuite started in August 2024.
Last September, ICE paid an extra US$700,000 to use Talkwalker, a “social listening” software that collects user behaviour on social media to track trends and brand sentiment.
The contract comes as the agency launched a new social media strategy that included viral arrest videos and polarizing recruitment advertisements that experts say echo language used by the far right.
Hootsuite did not respond to requests for comment. In a statement on the company’s website, CEO Irina Novoselsky said it will continue to work with ICE as long as the agency does not violate its terms of service by tracking or surveilling people using Hootsuite’s software.
The company’s terms of service prohibit clients from using Hootsuite for law enforcement, surveillance and tracking.
The job and hiring markets for tech were drastically different in 2020 as growing companies were competing for workers.
Bakan, who writes extensively about corporate responsibility, said that at that time many tech companies boasted social responsibility to attract and retain employees.
B.C.’s tech job market has changed since then. Several companies have laid off workers and in 2025 the province experienced a net loss of tech jobs.
Hootsuite’s website says it values inclusion and commits to “give back to our communities and be an ally.”
“It becomes an important part of their brand image, which becomes an important part of their strategies to attract not only consumers and investors, but also employees,” Bakan said.
“So when something like this happens employees may have some real problems with it and may feel really compromised.”
Bakan said in 2020 the company likely decided the cost of “acting badly” outweighed the value of the contract.
But not this time.
It’s unclear whether employees are taking a stance. The Tyee reached out to several employees and former employees of Hootsuite for comment.
The majority did not respond. Two declined to comment. One former contractor said in an email they were “extremely disappointed” that Hootsuite had worked with ICE, but declined an interview.
The activist group Democracy Rising says it is planning a protest at Hootsuite’s Mount Pleasant headquarters Friday.
Rachel Small, Canada organizer for the antiwar advocacy group World Beyond War, said employees’ response could ultimately determine how Hootsuite manages the public backlash.
“Where workers take a stance, they’re more successful than anybody else can be from the outside at pressuring a company to not do something,” Small said.
Still, she acknowledged that employees could be placing themselves at personal risk by taking a stand.
The Hootsuite employee who first blew the whistle on the company’s 2020 talks with ICE was let go about a month after voicing her concerns.
Small called for the company to end its contract with the U.S. agency.
“If we’re going to stand up to [U.S. President Donald] Trump in any way, we have to stop arming Trump’s operations,” Small said.
Publicly available data shows the contract is set to expire in six months unless the parties agree to extend service to 2029.
“We’re not asking Hootsuite to shut its doors and stop existing,” Small said. “This can be a win-win situation for the company and for everyone else, if they take a stand on the right side of history and just simply cancel this contract.”
