The Infinite Brief

The previously unreported case in a federal court in California is proceeding under seal, so no filings are publicly available, but Reuters reports that Facebook is contesting the U.S. Department of Justice’s demand.

The judge in the Messenger case heard arguments on a government motion to hold Facebook in contempt of court for refusing to carry out the surveillance request.

If the government prevails in the Facebook Messenger case, it could make similar arguments to force companies to rewrite other popular encrypted services such as Signal and Facebook’s billion-user WhatsApp, which include both voice and text functions, some legal experts said.