D.C. Circuit Court Decision Brings Attention To Stored Communications Act

A decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in August 2023 made the rounds with headline-grabbing subjects such as X. Corp (formerly known as Twitter), sanctions and an investigation of former President Donald Trump. However, a key component of the decision centered around the Stored Communications Act (SCA), 18 U.S.C. § 2701 et seq., which establishes procedures for companies to respond to search warrant or subpoena requests in relation to its user's content or data.

Importantly, companies that obtain data and user communications – as varied as Twitter, Meta, Google, LinkedIn, Airbnb or Lyft – can find themselves served with a search warrant seeking the content of a user's communications. While it only requires a subpoena to obtain a subject's user history – such as rides taken with Lyft – to obtain the subject's communications with a Lyft driver, for example, requires a search warrant that is governed by the SCA.