Deleted social media

June 17, 2020

Dear Freedom of Information Officer,

Pursuant to the Delaware Freedom of Information Act § 100001 et seq.., I am requesting an opportunity to inspect or obtain copies of public records on my own behalf as a journalist and as an academic researcher.

Requested Records

Part 1: TWITTER @Delaware_DHSS

I request all agency records from April 2009 to the present concerning Tweets deleted or drafted and not sent from the @Delaware_DHSS account associated with the Delaware Department of Health and Social Services. I believe the records that I are located, inter alia, within agency headquarters, in email records, and in third-party platforms used to manage the Agency’s social media accounts.

The records I request include, but are not limited to:
1. Records of all tweets deleted by the Twitter handle associated with the Delaware Department of Health and Social Services (@Delaware_DHSS), including:
a. Any tweets that were published on Twitter and subsequently deleted for any reason; and
b. Any tweets published by other accounts that were retweeted by @Delaware_DHSS, and subsequently deleted for any reason.
2. Records of all tweets that have been kept in draft form beyond their expected date and time of publication, on Twitter or in a third-party social media management platform, for any reason.
3. Records related to the drafting or deletion of tweets, including:
a. Any correspondence or record of correspondence regarding the drafting or deletion of specific tweets
i. including correspondence sent through official government email addresses or messaging services; and
ii. including correspondence sent through private third-party services such as Gmail or Slack; and
iii. Including any messages, notes, or annotations created on a third-party social media management platform.
b. Documentation of the agency’s existing policy regarding the preservation and maintenance of tweets
c. Any briefings, reports, memoranda, legal opinions, policy statements, or talking points used or disseminated within the Agency regarding the drafting or deletion of tweets.

Part II: FACEBOOK, Delaware Department of Health and Social Services, @DEPublicHealth

I request all agency records March 21, 2012 to the present concerning Facebook posts deleted or drafted and not sent from the @DEPublicHealth account associated with the Delaware Department of Health and Social Services. I believe the records that I are located, inter alia, within agency headquarters, in email records, and in third-party platforms used to manage the Agency’s social media accounts.

The records I request include, but are not limited to:
1. Records of all posts deleted by the Facebook handle associated with the Delaware Department of Health and Social Services @DEPublicHealth including:
a. Any Facebook posts that were published on Facebook and subsequently deleted for any reason; and
b. Any Facebook posts published by other accounts that were reposted by @DEPublicHealth and subsequently deleted for any reason.
2. Records of all Facebook posts that have been kept in draft form beyond their expected date and time of publication, on Facebook or in a third-party social media management platform, for any reason.
3. Records related to the drafting or deletion of Facebook posts, including:
a. Any correspondence or record of correspondence regarding the drafting or deletion of specific Facebook posts
i. including correspondence sent through official government email addresses or messaging services; and
ii. including correspondence sent through private third-party services such as Gmail or Slack; and
iii. Including any messages, notes, or annotations created on a third-party social media management platform.
b. Documentation of the agency’s existing policy regarding the preservation and maintenance of Facebook posts
c. Any briefings, reports, memoranda, legal opinions, policy statements, or talking points used or disseminated within the Agency regarding the drafting or deletion of Facebook posts

Request for Public Interest Fee Waiver

I request a waiver of fees because disclosure of the requested records is in the public interest. It is likely to contribute significantly to the public understanding of the activities or operations of the government and is not primarily in the commercial interest of the requester.
First, the records concern the operations or activities of the government. Government social media accounts are used to disseminated information to the public, make official pronouncements, and generally serve as an important touch point for governments to receive public input. See Social Media Use by Governments: A Policy Primer to Discuss Trends, Identify Policy Opportunities and Guide Decision Makers, OECD Working Papers on Public Governance, available at https://dx.doi.org/10.1787/5jxrcmghmk0s-en. Social media use, including tweets posted by @Delaware_DHSS and then deleted, or never posted, is an important part of this activity.

Disclosure of the requested information is likely to contribute significantly to public understanding of the operations or activities of the government. Specifically, the requested records will reveal substantial new information about how the Delaware Department of Health and Social Services defines and manages tweets and its other social media posts. They will allow the public to see what published messages have been rescinded and the process by which these public statements were retracted as compared to the processes employed by other agencies. For example, my research on the Twitter account of the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base revealed to the public that the account had systematically deleted controversial tweets. See Brady Dale, To What Extent is a Tweet a Federal Record?, TECHNICAL.LY BROOKLYN (October 24, 2017), (https://technical.ly/brooklyn/2017/10/24/muira-mccammon-talks-gitmo-radical-networks/).

Finally, the records are not primarily in my own commercial interest. I seek the requested information for newsgathering purposes, and expect to incorporate it into journalistic work product to be disseminated to the public, like those already produced. See Muira Mccammon, Trouble @JTFGTMO, SLATE (April 17, 2018), https://slate.com/technology/2018/04/why-did-the-joint-task-force-of-guantanamo-start-deleting-tweets.html; Muira Mccammon, Can They Really Delete That?, SLATE (April 17, 2018), https://slate.com/technology/2018/04/can-federal-agencies-really-just-delete-tweets.html.
For the reasons above, I respectfully request that the agency grant a public interest fee waiver for this request, and that all fees related to the search, review, and duplication of the requested records be waived. If the fees will not be waived, I agree to pay up to $50 for the processing of this request. If the estimated fees will exceed this limit, please inform me before you begin processing.

Request for “News Media” Fee Status

As a freelance journalist, I am a representative of the news media and do not seek the records requested for commercial use. Therefore, if the agency does not find that my request meets the standards required for a public interest fee waiver, I request that fees associated with the processing of my request be limited to reasonable duplication costs. I am a representative of the news media because I gather information of potential interest to a segment of the public, use [my] editorial skills to turn the raw materials into a distinct work, and distribute that work to an audience. I can also demonstrate a solid basis for expecting publication by my past publication record.

My work has been featured in publications including Slate, VICE, the Massachusetts Review, Kill Screen, and more. I have previously requested documents obtained via FOI from a range of government agencies and government officials regarding the deletion of tweets from official Twitter accounts. I used that information to write a series of articles outlining both how individual agencies decided whether or not to delete tweets and more broadly how the government regards Twitter statements. These articles have been published, disseminated, and further reported upon to a broad audience. See Muira Mccammon, Trouble @JTFGTMO, SLATE (April 17, 2018), https://slate.com/technology/2018/04/why-did-the-joint-task-force-of-guantanamo-start-deleting-tweets.html; Muira Mccammon, Can They Really Delete That?, SLATE (April 17, 2018), https://slate.com/technology/2018/04/can-federal-agencies-really-just-delete-tweets.html.

Therefore, if this request is not classified as being in the public interest, I respectfully request to be classified as a “news media” requester for purposes of fee assessments.

Request for “Educational Requester” Fee Status

In addition to writing as a journalist, I am also a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School and a Master’s in Law candidate at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. I am writing my dissertation, in part, on communication and deletion practices of U.S. government agencies. This research has, to date, been presented at the International Communication of Association’s annual conferences in Prague (2018) and Washington D.C. (2019)—in addition to many other more local conferences. If I had said this before to you, would that have helped (with regards to the ‘education’ category). I have also been granted over 350 emails and 36 records of deleted tweets from other government agencies in sum to date. My research is specifically focused on US government policy and practice regarding the drafting and deletion of tweets. A search for “any” deleted tweets is neither random nor unreasonable, but a precise description of the records that I seek. A number of other agencies (aforementioned and other) with official Twitter accounts have successfully produced records of deleted tweets in response to similar requests by myself. This work is forthcoming in an article, “Tweeted, Deleted: An Exploratory Study of the U.S. Government’s Digital Memory Holes” that will be printed this summer in New Media & Society.

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I request that responsive electronic records be provided electronically in their native file format, if possible. If there are any fees for searching or copying these records, please inform me if the cost will exceed $50. However, as I mentioned above, I would also like to request a waiver of all fees in this disclosure.
The statute requires a response in a reasonable time period. If access to the records I am requesting will take longer, please contact me with information about when I might expect copies or the ability to inspect the requested records.

If you deny any or all of this request, please cite each specific exemption you feel justifies the refusal to release the information and notify me of the appeal procedures available to me under the law.

Thank you for considering my request.

Sincerely,

Jonathan Rudenberg