Federal agencies are getting more attention on social media — and more criticism

Social media posts from most agencies on the platform X received more likes and reposts on average in the first year of President Donald Trump’s second term than they did during the last year of the Biden administration, according to an analysis published this month by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center. 

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Across 24 agencies, posts received a median of 929 likes and reposts in most of 2025 compared with 197 the previous year. For example, the Homeland Security Department’s X account went from a median of 57 engagements under Biden to nearly 2,300 under Trump. And the Labor Department’s median increased from 16 to around 2,150. 

DHS under Trump frequently posts about arrests of undocumented immigrants, as the administration is pursuing mass deportations. 

But the department’s social media presence has attracted scrutiny. Earlier this month, Rep. Shri Thanedar, D-Mich., introduced legislation (H.R. 9206) that would require public-facing DHS communications to

“Under the failed leadership of [Secretaries] Kristi Noem and Markwayne Mullin, the Department of Homeland Security is constantly posting inflammatory rhetoric that appeals to the ‘Great Replacement Theory’ of replacing white, native-born populations with non-white immigrants,” the congressman said in a statement. “It is time that Congress brings an end to this unacceptable behavior.”

The Labor Department has also been criticized for sharing a series of social media posts promoting apprenticeships that mostly only feature white men. 

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“This isn’t a dog whistle,” said Judy Conti, the director of government affairs at the National Employment Law Project nonprofit, in a November 2025 statement. “This is a loud trumpet blaring that White men who are supporting their wives and children are worthy of good jobs.”

The New York Times reported in February that the DOL staffer behind this social media campaign was hired by DHS. 

In its analysis, Pew also found that the rhetoric agencies are using in X posts has changed. During the first year of Trump’s second term, agencies shared posts with the words “American” and “president” more than twice as often as they did in Biden’s last year. And there was a fivefold increase in posts from Immigration and Customs Enforcement that had the word “criminal.” 

The research center also reported that DHS and ICE posted more than twice as much in most of 2025 than they did in 2024. 

X, formerly known as Twitter, is owned by the former head of the Department of Government Efficiency Elon Musk, who recently became the world’s first trillionaire. An April analysis by The Washington Post found that “Musk has recently significantly increased his rate of online posts about race and his concerns about perceived threats to Whiteness or what he views as calls for a ‘genocide’ against White people.”

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