Twitter was supposed to hand over Trump’s account information to special counsel Jack Smith by a deadline but has avoided doing so.
Twitter was fined $350,000 for not providing Trump account information
According to newly released court documents, Twitter was ordered in January to provide records related to former US President Donald Trump’s account for inspection, and now a judge has slammed the company for failing to provide the documents in a timely manner. , has fined 350 thousand dollars.
According to the Guardian, court documents state that US Special Counsel Jack Smith’s team obtained a search warrant in January requiring Twitter (aka X) to turn over “data and records” related to Trump’s account. present to them. They have also signed a non-disclosure agreement with Twitter.
The judge in the case, Beryl E. Howell ordered Twitter to provide the requested information and pay a fine of $350,000 if it fails to do so by the deadline.
Twitter opposes Trump’s search warrant
While defying the non-disclosure agreement, Twitter said it would not provide any account information. In fact, Twitter has argued that the non-disclosure agreement violates its basic right to communicate with Trump. On the other hand, Howell pointed out that if Trump’s search warrant becomes public, he may take preventive measures to exonerate himself.
According to this ruling, Twitter had to provide relevant records by January 27. The judge found on February 7 that the company had not taken the said order too seriously and gave it until 5 pm the same day to hand over the documents. Even so, Twitter only provided some information and still hasn’t fully complied with the order.
In their request, Smith’s investigation team has repeatedly referred to Trump’s tweets, in which signs of conspiracy and calling for violence can be seen after the defeat of Joe Biden in the 2020 election.
It is unclear what information Smith is seeking from Trump’s Twitter account. It can be assumed that he is looking for data about when and where the posts were written, who shared them with others, and the identity of other accounts that reposted Trump’s content.
