The US Supreme Court has dismissed a petition from Elon Musk’s X Corp, formerly known as Twitter, to review whether the social media company can publicly disclose the frequency of federal law enforcement requests for user information in national security investigations. Justices declined to hear X’s appeal of a lower court decision that found the FBI’s restrictions on public disclosure did not infringe on its free speech rights under the First Amendment of the US Constitution.
X argued the case was pivotal in establishing clear standards for tech companies to communicate about government requests for confidential user information related to surveillance. The lawsuit, initiated in 2014 before Musk’s acquisition of Twitter in 2022, followed the 2013 revelations by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden about extensive US spying efforts.
In response to public concerns over government surveillance, the US government, at the behest of tech companies including Google, Microsoft, Twitter, and Meta Platforms, eased restrictions in 2014, allowing disclosure in broad ranges rather than exact figures regarding national security-related data demands.
Congress further addressed the issue in 2015, permitting limited disclosure about national security letters and orders under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. However, the disclosure remained within broad ranges, with companies reporting demands in increments ranging from 100 to 1000.
Twitter, then known as X, sought to disclose the exact number of government national security orders within a specific period, submitting a draft report to the FBI. The FBI deemed the information classified, preventing public release. The trial judge and a three-judge panel of the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the government’s restriction, asserting it was narrowly tailored to support a compelling government interest.
