Facebook Can Now Tell Users About Government Search Warrants

Gavel at the computer keyboardIt’s no secret that Facebook loves to collect our personal data. However, the social media giant isn’t exactly keen on sharing that info with others. That’s why the company has fought so hard for the right to tell users when the government issues a search warrant for their personal information. And this week, the site (and its users) won a major victory: the government dropped its demand that Facebook be held to a nondisclosure order in these cases. That means that if the government wants to snoop around your profile, Facebook has the right to tell you about it.

The government dropped the request the day before a public hearing was scheduled to take place in a case related to the arrest of three protesters at President Donald Trump’s inauguration in January.

“We’re pleased that our fight for people’s rights was successful and that we can now notify the three people whose broad account information was requested by the government,” Facebook said in a statement. “We are grateful to the companies and civil society organizations that have supported us in arguing for people’s ability to learn about and challenge overly broad search warrants.”

Of course, Facebook still has a lot of progress to make when it comes to safeguarding our privacy, but this is undeniably a big win for users.