Back in January Special Counsel Jack Smith sought and obtained a search warrant for President Donald Trump's Twitter account. In the warrant, Smith demanded Twitter not tell Trump the Special Counsel was pursuing his account.
"On January 17, 2023, the government applied for, and obtained, a search warrant that directed Twitter to produce data and records related to the '@realDonaldTrump"'Twitter account. At the same time, the government applied for, and obtained, a nondisclosure order, which prohibited Twitter from disclosing the existence or contents of the search warrant to any person. Based on ex parte affidavits, the district court found probable cause to search the Twitter account for evidence of criminal offenses. Moreover, the district court found that there were 'reasonable grounds to believe' that disclosing the warrant to former President Trump 'would seriously jeopardize the ongoing investigation' by giving him 'an opportunity to destroy evidence, change patterns of behavior, [or] notify confederates,'" court documents state.
"The warrant required Twitter to tum over all requested information by January 27, 2023. The nondisclosure order was to remain in effect for 180 days after its issuance. The government faced difficulties when it first attempted to serve Twitter with the warrant and nondisclosure order," the documents continue.
In response to the request for access to Trump's account and the warrant, Twitter argued the effort was a violation of the First Amendment. According to court documents the request was slow walked at the social media company, prompting a judge to hold the company in contempt and a levy a big fine.
"The district court issued a search warrant in a criminal case, directing appellant Twitter, Inc. ("Twitter") to produce information to the government related to the Twitter account "@realDonaldTrump." The search warrant was served along with a nondisclosure order that prohibited Twitter from notifying anyone about the existence or contents of the warrant," court documents show. "Twitter initially delayed production of the materials required by the search warrant while it unsuccessfully litigated objections to the nondisclosure order. Although Twitter ultimately complied with the warrant, the company did not fully produce the requested information until three days after a court-ordered deadline. The district court thus held Twitter in contempt and imposed a $350,000 sanction for its delay."
"In this appeal, Twitter argues that the nondisclosure order violated the First Amendment and the Stored Communications Act; that the district court should have stayed its enforcement of the search warrant until after Twitter's objections to the nondisclosure order were resolved; and that the district court abused its discretion by holding Twitter in contempt and imposing the sanction," the documents continue.
Billionaire Elon Musk purchased Twitter in October 2022 with a goal of protecting free speech rights and ending big tech censorship collusion with the federal government. President Donald Trump was banned from Twitter on January 8, 2021 and reinstated by Musk in November 2022. Twitter executives explained their decision to issue the ban in the aftermath of the events at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021:
After close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them — specifically how they are being received and interpreted on and off Twitter — we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence.
In the context of horrific events this week, we made it clear on Wednesday that additional violations of the Twitter Rules would potentially result in this very course of action. Our public interest framework exists to enable the public to hear from elected officials and world leaders directly. It is built on a principle that the people have a right to hold power to account in the open.
However, we made it clear going back years that these accounts are not above our rules entirely and cannot use Twitter to incite violence, among other things. We will continue to be transparent around our policies and their enforcement.