[JURIST] The social media company Twitter [website] filed a lawsuit [complaint, PDF] on Tuesday against both the FBI (FBI) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) [official websites] seeking more information about government surveillance. Twitter is seeking to publish what they call a “transparency report” in order to inform their users about US government surveillance programs. Twitter provided both the DOJ and FBI with an early version of their transparency report in April, but both agencies refused to allow the document to be published to the public. Twitter has pledged to fight to preserve the First Amendment rights of their users and provide them complete transparency regarding the US government’s surveillance activity as concerns the social media outlet. According to a statement [press release] from Twitter, “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.”

The revelations surrounding National Security Agency (NSA) surveillance programs [JURIST backgrounder] have sparked worldwide debate and controversy. Earlier this year current and former US officials released [JURIST report] a report stating that less than 30 percent of all Americans’ phone records are being collected due to the inability to keep up with the increased use of cellular phones. In late January the American Civil Liberties Union [advocacy website] filed a motion [JURIST report] on behalf of terror suspect Jamshid Muhtorov to suppress evidence the NSA obtained from surveillance conducted pursuant to the FISA Amendments Act of 2008 [text, PDF]. Also that month the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board [official website], an independent agency created by Congress to protect American privacy under anti-terrorism laws, issued a report [JURIST report] calling the NSA’s metadata program illegal and saying that it should be ended. Earlier in January President Barack Obama announced detailed plans [JURIST report] to change surveillance policy, curbing the abilities of intelligence agencies to collect and use Americans’ phone data. Also that month the DOJ filed an appeal to a federal district court ruling that held that the NSA program is likely unconstitutional [JURIST reports].