Prosecutors - 1, Facebook - 0 in fight over user data

The Facebook home screen.
(Image credit: Karen Bleier/AFP/Getty Images)

Here's another reminder to be careful what you post online: A New York state court ruled Tuesday that Facebook has to comply with search warrants allowing prosecutors to glean information from hundreds of users believed to be committing Social Security fraud.

The court ruled that the warrants, which applied to the photos, private messages, and personal account information of 381 users, could only be challenged by individual defendants after prosecutors gathered evidence, Reuters reports. In 2013, the Manhattan District Attorney's office served warrants to Facebook, looking for information on people who were eventually indicted for Social Security fraud, including some police officers and firefighters who pretended to be sick after the Sept. 11 attacks. Facebook submitted the records to prosecutors in 2014 after a state judge tossed their claim that the warrants violated the Fourth Amendment, but went ahead with an appeal.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.