PHILADELPHIA — A federal judge on Friday ordered Meta — the parent company of Facebook and Instagram — not to comply with a request by the Department of Homeland Security seeking information about the operators of MontCo Community Watch, a grass-roots organization behind a pair anonymous social media accounts that tracks local ICE activity.

The order, issued late Friday by U.S. Magistrate Judge Peter H. Kang, was a quick response to a lawsuit filed on behalf of the Montgomery County group, in which its lawyers said DHS had taken unlawful steps to try to unmask the people behind it.

In the lawsuit, filed in federal court in California this week, lawyers for the group said DHS’ actions amount to a clear First Amendment violation, and that the group’s operators and associates are being targeted by the federal government “for doing nothing more than exercising their rights to free speech and free association.”

Kang, the judge, did not say in his order whether he endorsed that position. But he said Meta should not produce any documents or information in response to DHS’ request without a court order while the case proceeds before him.

The effort by DHS began last month, the lawsuit said, when the agency sent two administrative summonses to Meta seeking usernames, phone numbers, IP addresses, and other identifying information for those with connections to the group’s pages. The stated purpose of the summonses, the lawsuit said, was for DHS to investigate potential customs violations involving merchandise sales.

But the group’s pages on Facebook and Instagram do not offer anything for sale, the lawsuit said, and even if they did, DHS’ requests sought information “wildly outside the scope” of such an investigation.

The group’s members are “in immediate danger of having their personal information shared with DHS, and therefore in danger of being targeted for harassment, detention, and persecution,” the lawsuit said. It asked a federal judge to quash the summonses and prevent Meta from turning over the information.

The lawsuit was filed Thursday in California’s northern district court, where Meta is headquartered.

DHS did not respond to a request for comment Friday.

Stephen Loney, a supervising attorney with the ACLU of Pennsylvania and one of the lawyers handling the case, called the situation “a pretty appalling abuse of process, and abuse of the government’s power against the little guy, who is just trying to protect their community and let people know what’s going on.”

Loney said Meta could have pushed back against the government’s request by declining to comply without a court order. Instead, it shifted the onus to its account-holders, leaving it to them to figure out the situation and file complex court motions.