Twitter sues US government over limits on ability to disclose surveillance orders

Twitter sued the US government, alleging that the Justice Department’s restrictions on what the company can say publicly about the government’s national security requests for user data violate the firm’s First Amendment rights.

With its lawsuit, Twitter is seeking to go further than five other technology companies that earlier this year reached a settlement with the government on the permissible scope of disclosure at a time of heightened concern about the scale of government surveillance. “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 US government surveillance -- including what types of legal process have not been received,” said Ben Lee, a Twitter vice president. “We should be free to do this in a meaningful way, rather than in broad, inexact ranges.”