US Judge Rejects Twitter Lawsuit Over Government Surveillance Request

In 2014, the Twitter company filed a lawsuit after NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden leaked classified documents detailing a US domestic surveillance programme in which the authorities tapped Internet cables, collected phone records and emails and tracked the location of cell phones all over the world.

On 17 April, US District Court Judge Yvonne Rogers dismissed Twitter's long-pending lawsuit aimed at releasing its Draft Transparency Report to the public, which contains the security demands it receives from the national government.

"The declarations explain the gravity of the risks inherent in disclosure of the information that the Government has prohibited Twitter from stating in its Draft Transparency Report, including a sufficiently specific explanation of the reasons, disclosure of mere aggregate numbers, even years after the relevant time period in the Draft Transparency Report, could be expected to give rise to grave or imminent harm to the national security", the Court's decision reads.

Yvonne Rogers has also said that the government would not be able to stop Twitter from publishing the data if the company decides to make the information public.

"We believe it is vital that the public see the demands we receive, and how we work to strike a balance between respecting local law, supporting people's ability to Tweet, and protecting people from harm", Twitter's spokesperson said in a statement, as quoted by Politico.

The Twitter spokesperson added that the company is disappointed with the Court's decision and said that Twitter will continue to fight for transparency.

According to the Politico news outlet, Twitter lawyers could not view the arguments presented by the FBI due to Attorney General Bill Barr's assertion of the state secrets privilege forbidding the disclosure of the documents.