Timeline Of Hootsuite Working With ICE
The very real truth is that Hootsuite has repeatedly chosen to work with ICE, and according to the official US Government System For Award Management site (Sam.Gov), Hootsuite was awarded a contract to work with ICE on September 30, 2026.
September 2020
Hootsuite pulls deal with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement after employee backlash. The CEO at the time, Tom Keiser, issued this statement:
"I — and the rest of the management team — share the concerns our people have expressed. As a result, we have decided to not proceed with the deal with ICE."
January 2026
Public backlash based on a new ICE contract causes Then-CEO Irina Novoselsky to say "We work with a wide range of organizations because listening to real conversations leads to insights that drive better decisions and accountability, without endorsing specific actions or policies,"
January 2026
Hundreds of people gather in the rain at Hootsuite headquarters to protest the latest contract with ICE.
January 2026
NDP MP Heather Mcpherson pens a letter to Prime Minister Mark Carney calling on the government to take action to stop businesses from working with ICE, and uses Hootsuite as an example.
April 2026
In an article about the termination of CEO Irina Novoselsky, new CEO and Hootsuite founder Ryan Holmes refuses to directly answer questions Hootsuite’s work with ICE, and responds to a request for comment by saying “the company is in "a position of strength" and that Holmes will "accelerate" the business.”
May 2026
June 2026 - Democracy Rising hosts a “Roast of Ryan Holmes” in which he is ridiculed for having a man-bun haircut and his support of ICE using Hootsuite is compared to Hannah Arendt’s description of Adolf Eichmann:
“Except for an extraordinary diligence in looking out for his personal advancement, he had no motives at all… He merely, to put the matter colloquially, never realized what he was doing… It was sheer thoughtlessness—something by no means identical with stupidity—that predisposed him to become one of the greatest criminals of that period.”
May 2026
Vancouver-based activist group Democracy Rising offers to buy Ryan Holmes a beer if he drops the ICE contract.
September 2026
Amnesty International releases a report documenting widespread human rights violations committed by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and calling on the the organization to be abolished.
“Our report documents a chilling pattern of human rights violations across the U.S. intended to instil fear within migrant, asylum seeker and refugee communities.
ICE’s record of violating human rights is nothing new, but our report shows many of these abuses have reached a perilous new level.”
What’s next for Hootsuite?
