By Daniela Morales
Twitter has officially sued the US Government as of October 7th, alleging that the Justice Department’s restrictions on what the company can disclose publicly about national security requests it receives for user data violates their First Amendment rights.
In April, Twitter submitted a draft Transparency Report – a report about the scope of U.S government surveillance- addendum to the US Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Bureau of Investigation. After months of discussion, Twitter wasn’t able to publish even a redacted version of the report. The Department of Justice stated that the report included classified information for which Twitter could be criminalized for revealing, but the Department never specified what the classified information to be omitted was.
Companies like Google, Twitter, and Microsoft asserted that without the ability to disclose more details about data requests they receive, the public would be left to speculate that they were providing unrestrained access to user data or providing the government with information in bulk.
“We’ve tried to achieve the level of transparency our users deserve without litigation, but to no avail,” said Twitter in a blog post published on their Twitter site.
In a statement, Principal Deputy Director of Public Affairs at the US DOJ, Emily Pierce, said the government “worked collaboratively” with other technology companies to reach a settlement that would allow tech firms to report the number of requests they receive from the government in broad bands – such as “we have gotten (zero to 999) surveillance requests,” but not more specific than that.
“It’s our belief that we are entitled under the First Amendment to respond to our users’ concerns and to the statements of US government officials by providing information about the scope of U.S. government surveillance – including what types of legal process have not been received,” said Benjamin Lee, lawyer for Twitter Inc. in a blog post. “We should be free to do this in a meaningful way, rather than in broad, inexact ranges.”
On October 7th, Twitter officially filed a lawsuit in federal court, seeking to publish full Transparency Reports and asking the court to declare the restrictions on their ability to speak about government surveillance as unconstitutional under the First Amendment.
Government officials have stated that as the FBI and National Security Agency are looking to protect the country from real security threats, the release of such Transparency Reports containing more than just broad ranges could jeopardize their methods and sources of information.
Twitter is just one out of a bigger group of tech giants after greater changes in accurately reporting and governmental freedom in disclosure policies.
