The ACLU's lawsuit had argued that the DOJ warrant violated many, many users' Fourth Amendment rights to privacy -- specifically for exposing their lawful political affiliations. At the DC Superior Court hearing, the government conceded that it didn't actually need all the information originally requested, according to the ACLU's press release.

Per the court's decision, Facebook must scrub all third-party identifying information from info requested by the warrant. The social network will no longer be forced to disclose those 6,000 users who liked or followed DisruptJ20's page. Nor will it have to provide MacAuley's and Carrefour's Facebook friends, or the names of anyone who communicated with them on the platform. Finally, it's shrinking the date range for account photos Facebook must provide from 101 days (November 1, 2016 through February 9, 2017) to 21 days (January 20, 2017 through February 9, 2017).

That doesn't mean the DOJ can never get this information -- they'll just have to give the court a 'search protocol' that will, if approved, let the department peruse the DisruptJ20 page. The DOJ must also get permission before those third-party names are uncovered. The court didn't bend to all of the ACLU's requests mentioned in the suit, however -- most crucially, that a neutral third party be appointed to review all material and prevent the government from receiving information 'irrelevant' to the investigation.