Sponsors
The bill speeds and standardizes access to communications from very large providers—benefiting investigators and people seeking evidence—but does so at the cost of increased provider burdens, higher litigation risk, and greater potential for privacy exposures of unrelated users.
People whose communications are sought (e.g., criminal defendants, civil litigants, investigators) and courts get faster, more predictable responses from very large online providers—responses within 72 hours and clarified deadlines—which reduces delays in investigations and evidence access.
Individuals harmed by a provider's failure to meet ordered deadlines (including people with disabilities who rely on timely disclosures) can seek injunctive relief and damages in federal court, creating a private remedy and enforcement mechanism.
Users unrelated to legal requests face greater privacy risk because short production deadlines could pressure providers to produce incomplete or overbroad sets of data, increasing the chance of exposing others' information.
Very large providers will incur higher operational and compliance costs to meet rapid turnaround requirements, and those costs may be passed to customers or divert resources from product and service improvements.
Allowing private lawsuits for missed deadlines could lead to increased litigation and compliance costs for providers, further diverting resources and raising prices or slowing innovation.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Requires providers with ≥1,000,000 users to comply with warrants/orders within 72 hours (short extensions allowed), mandates 48-hour challenge filing, and creates a private right of action for failures.
Introduced February 9, 2026 by Brittany Pettersen · Last progress February 9, 2026
Requires large electronic communication and remote computing service providers (those with 1,000,000 or more users) to disclose contents or records in response to a warrant or court order within 72 hours, with limited, short extensions for complex or voluminous requests. It also requires these providers to file any motion to quash or modify within 48 hours and creates a private right of action allowing individuals harmed by a provider’s failure to comply with the court-ordered timeline to seek injunctive relief and damages in federal court.