Obama administration communications regarding Twitter archive

To Whom It May Concern:

This is a request under the Freedom of Information Act. I hereby request the following records:

Any correspondence between the Obama administration and the Library of Congress concerning the retention of social media material (specifically material contained in the Library’s Twitter archive) between the dates of November 8th 2016 and January 20th 2017.

I am especially interested in possible guidance regarding the retention of material related to Twitter accounts suspected of being Russian in origin, and their activities during the 2016 election. Of particular interest would be any lists of suspected accounts, tweets, or specific hashtags flagged for preservation in any correspondence provided by the Executive branch to the Library.

I do not believe that these possible records would be exempt under 703.5 (1) even if they were made in anticipation of future Congressional requests, as both the House and Senate Intelligence Committees have called for further disclosure of information related to Russian interference.

I do not believe that these possible records would be exempt under 703.5 (5), which holds that items such as “customer lists” are exempt, as Twitter has publicly disavowed Russian linked accounts as being in violation of their Terms of Service, and could therefore not reasonably construed as “customers”.

I do not believe that these records would be exempt under 703.5 (6), which states that a “clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy” is grounds for exemption, as the Library has long been archiving public tweets, and I would doubt there is an expectation of privacy in regards to Twitter accounts suspected of affiliation with a foreign government.

The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.

In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 20 business days, as the statute requires.

Sincerely,

Robert Delaware