Trump admin loses fight to spy on random journalists’ LinkedIn DMs

A US appeals court ruled that the Justice Department’s request for journalists’ LinkedIn records in a military leak investigation was too broad. The judges said collecting communications from reporters with no clear connection to the inquiry could expose confidential sources and threaten press freedom.

The request sought 18 months of communications from journalists who published more than 1,000 articles on varied subjects, and was accompanied by a secrecy order lasting a year. The unanimous appeals panel did not cancel the request, but sent it back to a lower court to narrow its scope and consider limited notification to a lawyer for the news outlet under investigation.