Trump admin loses fight to spy on random journalists’ LinkedIn DMs
Confidential sources “lifeblood” of free press, court rules in LinkedIn fight.
The Trump administration's attempt to access the LinkedIn communications of random journalists for suspected leaks of top-secret military information has been thwarted by an appeals court. The Department of Justice requested 18 months of communications from journalists who had published over 1,000 articles on various topics, but the court ruled that the scope of the request was too broad.
The DOJ did not limit its request to journalists directly involved in a controversial report, but instead cast a wide net to include any journalists who might have had any possible connection to the reporters around the time the report was drafted. LinkedIn argued that allowing such overreach would not only harm targeted journalists but also put a critical platform at risk where journalists frequently connect with confidential sources.
The court agreed, ruling that the government's request went beyond harming targeted journalists and threatened to undermine the platform. Additionally, the Trump administration secured a secrecy order to keep the sweeping request confidential for a year, leaving journalists unaware for too long that their First Amendment rights had been compromised.
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