Information for Law Enforcement Authorities

These operational guidelines are for law enforcement officials seeking records from Meta Platforms (hereinafter “Meta”). For private party requests, including requests from civil litigants and criminal defendants, please visit the Help Center or Instagram’s Help Center. Users seeking information on their own accounts can access Facebook's "Download Your Information" or Instagram’s “Download your Information.” . This information may change at any time.

U.S. Legal Process Requirements

We disclose account records solely in accordance with our terms of service and applicable law, including the federal Stored Communications Act ("SCA"), 18 U.S.C. Sections 2701-2712. Under U.S. law:

International Legal Process Requirements

We disclose account records solely in accordance with our terms of service and applicable law. A Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty request or letter rogatory may be required to compel the disclosure of the contents of an account. Further information can be found here.

Authenticity Policy

People on Facebook are required to use the name they go by in everyday life on their account’s main profile, and must not maintain multiple accounts. Operating fake accounts, pretending to be someone else, or otherwise misrepresenting your authentic identity is not allowed, and we will act on violating accounts. Please see our Account Integrity and Authentic Identity policies here.

Account Preservation

We will take steps to preserve account records in connection with official criminal investigations for 90 days pending our receipt of formal legal process. You may expeditiously submit formal preservation requests through the Law Enforcement Online Request System, or mail as indicated below.

Emergency Requests

In responding to a matter involving imminent harm to a child or risk of death or serious physical injury to any person and requiring disclosure of information without delay, a law enforcement official may submit a request through the Law Enforcement Online Request System. Note: We will not review or respond to requests submitted by non-law enforcement officials. Users aware of an emergency situation should immediately and directly contact local law enforcement officials.

Child Safety Matters

We report all apparent instances of child exploitation appearing on our site from anywhere in the world to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), including content drawn to our attention by government requests. NCMEC coordinates with law enforcement authorities from around the world. If a request relates to a child exploitation or safety matter, please specify those circumstances (and include relevant NCMEC report identifiers) in the request to ensure that we are able to address these matters expeditiously and effectively.

Data Retention and Availability

We will search for and disclose data that is specified with particularity in an appropriate form of legal process and which we are reasonably able to locate and retrieve. We do not retain data for law enforcement purposes unless we receive a valid preservation request before a user has deleted that content from our service.

Details about data and account deletion can be found in our Data Policy, Terms of Service, and Help Center.

Form of Requests

We will be unable to process overly broad or vague requests. All requests must identify requested records with particularity, including the specific data categories requested and date limitations for the request, as well as include:

User Consent

If a law enforcement official is seeking information about a Meta user who has provided consent for the official to access or obtain the user's account information, the user should be directed to obtain that information on their own from their account. For account content, such as messages, photos, videos and timeline posts, users can access Facebook's "Download Your Information", Instagram’s “Download your Information. ” . Users can also view recent IP addresses in their account settings under "Security Settings" > "Where You're Logged In". Users do not have access to historical IP information without legal process.

Notification

Our policy is to notify people who use our service of requests for their information prior to disclosure unless we are prohibited by law from doing so or in exceptional circumstances, such as child exploitation cases, emergencies or when notice would be counterproductive. We will also provide delayed notice upon expiration of a specific non-disclosure period in a court order and where we have a good faith belief that exceptional circumstances no longer exist and we are not otherwise prohibited by law from doing so. Law enforcement officials who believe that notification would jeopardize an investigation should obtain an appropriate court order or other appropriate process establishing that notice is prohibited. If your data request draws attention to an ongoing violation of our terms of use, we will take action to prevent further abuse, including actions that may notify the user that we are aware of their misconduct.

Testimony

Meta does not provide expert testimony support. In addition, Meta records are self-authenticating pursuant to law and should not require the testimony of a records custodian. If a special form of certification is required, please attach it to your records request.

Cost Reimbursement

We may seek reimbursement for costs in responding to requests for information as provided by law. These fees apply on a per account basis. We may also charge additional fees for costs incurred in responding to unusual or burdensome requests.

We may waive these fees in matters investigating potential harm to children, Facebook, Instagram and our users, and emergency requests.

Human Rights Due Diligence

In line with our commitments as a member of the Global Network Initiative and our Corporate Human Rights Policy, we also conduct a careful review of each law enforcement request to disclose user data for consistency with international human rights standards.

Victim and Survivor Support

We know law enforcement often works with victims or other members of the community that need support navigating social media and understanding how to stay safe online. Here is a list of resources that can help you offer support to them.