Law Enforcement Requests Guidelines
These guidelines are solely intended for use by law enforcement or official representatives of government agencies. These guidelines are not intended for requests for information by Twilio customers, Twilio customers’ end users, civil litigants or criminal defendants.
How Do I Submit a Request?
Please create an account on our new Government Request Portal to submit your legal request or inquiry: https://app.kodex.us/twilio/signin
If your agency must submit requests via mail or in person, our address is as follows: Twilio, 101 Spear Street, First Floor, San Francisco, CA 94105..
In order for Twilio to process your request it must meet the following conditions:
- be submitted through Kodex by a law enforcement or other government agent using a registered email domain;
- include valid and enforceable legal process (e.g., a subpoena, court order, or search warrant) that compels Twilio to produce the information requested;
- contain the name and contact information of the individual law enforcement agent or government representative who is authorized to serve the request;
- state with particularity the categories of records or information sought;
- include sufficient information regarding the customer account, such as a phone number or account identifier, in order for Twilio to identify the customer account(s) at issue; and
- indicate the specific time period for which information is requested.
Twilio will disclose customer information in accordance with our terms of service, privacy policy, and U.S. law. A valid search warrant issued under the procedures described in the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure or equivalent state warrant procedures upon a showing of probable cause is required to compel Twilio to provide the contents of communications sent or received through Twilio’s products or services.
Twilio discloses customer information solely in accordance with our terms of service, privacy policy, and applicable law. A Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty request or letter rogatory may be required to compel the disclosure of Twilio customer information from Twilio.
Per Twilio’s Privacy Policy, we will use reasonable efforts to provide notice to our customer when we respond to a request for their information unless we are explicitly prohibited from doing so by law.
Law enforcement or other official government agencies that do not want Twilio to notify our customer of their request should include a court order or reference to other legal authority that bars Twilio from disclosing the existence of the request to our customer.
If your request for information draws Twilio’s attention to a violation of our Terms of Service or Acceptable Use Policy, Twilio will take action to prevent further abuse, which may alert the customer to Twilio’s awareness of its misconduct. Your request should explicitly include instruction to Twilio to not take action if you wish to prevent potential awareness on the part of Twilio’s customer(s).
Under Twilio’s privacy policy, we may disclose information to law enforcement in the case of an emergency where there is a danger of death or serious physical injury to a person that Twilio may have information necessary to prevent.
Twilio will evaluate emergency disclosure requests on a case-by-case basis in compliance with relevant law (e.g., 18 U.S.C. § 2702(b)(8)).
To request an emergency disclosure of customer information, please submit your request via Twilio's secure Government Request Portal, Kodex, and select "Emergency" as the type of legal Process. If you are currently unable to submit your emergency disclosure request via Kodex, you may initiate a request by calling 415-683-7921 and leaving a voicemail according to the instructions provided therein. Please note that Twilio's response may be delayed if you submit your request via phone, and that you will still be required to follow up your call with a submission via Kodex.
For Twilio to process an emergency disclosure request, the request must:
- be submitted through Kodex by a law enforcement or other government agent using a registered email domain;
- be issued due to a legitimate belief that there exists a danger of death or serious physical injury to a person that Twilio may have information necessary to prevent;
- include the nature of the emergency that requires disclosure, without delay, of the customer information requested;
- explain how the information sought will help avert the threatened death or serious physical injury and why normal disclosure processes would be insufficient or untimely in light of the deadline requested;
- contain the name and contact information of the individual law enforcement or authorized government agent serving the request;
- state with particularity the categories of records or information sought;
- include sufficient information regarding the customer account, such as a phone number or account identifier, in order for Twilio to identify the customer account(s) at issue; and
- indicate the specific time period for which customer information is requested.
Note: Per Twilio’s Privacy Policy, we will use reasonable efforts to provide notice to our customer when we receive a request for their information unless we are explicitly prohibited from doing so by law.
Twilio reports apparent instances of child exploitation detected on our services to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, including content drawn to our attention by law enforcement.
Twilio is a cloud communications company providing voice, messaging and other services to software developers and enterprise customers.
Customers use Twilio’s services and phone numbers to build applications utilized by their own end users.
Customers build applications that use existing programming languages to instruct the Twilio API to make and receive phone calls and send and receive text messages within their web application.
An ("API") is a software language and message format used to communicate with an operating system or other web application programs. Twilio’s API acts as a conduit between the traditional telecommunications infrastructure and the users of our customers’ web applications that are developed to transmit messages or voice calls via Twilio’s API. When Twilio receives information from web applications utilizing the Twilio API, Twilio forwards that information without alteration to downstream telecommunications carriers.
For information regarding our products and services, please see https://www.twilio.com/products.
Other than our customer names, contact information, and types and length of service, the particular categories of other customer information that Twilio has depends on which Twilio products and services the customer uses. Twilio generally has information regarding our customers’ usage of our products and services, such as how much our customer has used our particular product or service and may include such things as the origination and destination of calls or messages, the duration of calls. In some instances, Twilio may also have the content of communications sent or received through our customers software applications. Twilio makes much of its customers data accessible to its customers themselves to download, so Twilio encourages law enforcement or government agencies to obtain Twilio’s customer data directly from our customers whenever possible.
Twilio only requires a verified caller ID, email address and customer name to create a Twilio account and register for our services.
Many requests from law enforcement relate to phone numbers registered to Twilio. Phone numbers registered to Twilio are typically subleased to a Twilio customer. Some Twilio customers may then distribute that number to their own end user or subscriber. Twilio cannot identify whether our customer is directly using a phone number or has "resold" the number to their own end user as part of their application. Accordingly, in response to proper legal process, Twilio will provide you Twilio’s customer contact information, so that you can obtain end user information from the Twilio customer.
Note: Per Twilio’s Privacy Policy, we will use reasonable efforts to provide notice to our customer when we receive a request for their information unless we are explicitly prohibited from doing so by law.
Preservation Request
Twilio does not guarantee the existence or retention of particular customer information. However, Twilio will preserve any customer information in its possession in response to a formal and valid request from a law enforcement agency that includes a specific time range for preservation not to exceed 90 days.
Twilio will not produce records to the law enforcement agency without service of proper and valid legal process (e.g., subpoena, court order or warrant).
Preservation requests must:
- be submitted through Kodex by a law enforcement or other government agent using a registered email domain;
- contain the name and contact information of the individual law enforcement agent or authorized government agent serving the request;
- state with particularity the categories of records or information sought;
- include sufficient information regarding the customer account, such as a phone number or account identifier, for Twilio to identify the customer account(s) at issue;indicate the specific time period for which customer information is requested; and
- be limited to only that customer information which you intend to obtain legal process to receive.
Note: Per Twilio’s Privacy Policy, we will use reasonable efforts to provide notice to our customer when we receive a request for their information unless we are explicitly prohibited from doing so by law. Twilio may notify the user of the preservation request unless explicitly prohibited from doing so by statute, subpoena or court or administrative order.
Wiretap and Pen Register/Trap & Trace Orders
Twilio accepts Wiretap (18 U.S.C. § 2510, et seq.) and Pen Register/Trap & Trace Orders (18 U.S.C. § 3121, et seq.) and complies with such orders, technically and procedurally, to the extent required by the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA).
Requests should be submitted through Kodex: https://app.kodex.us/twilio/signin
For after-hours emergency assistance, please contact the Subsentio LEA Liaison Team Fax: 866-217-4097, Emergency #: 720-213-5735, Emergency Email: CourtOrders@Subsentio.com
Twilio will consider requests to disable content on a case-by-case basis. Twilio may notify the user of the request unless explicitly prohibited from doing so by statute, subpoena or court or administrative order.
Twilio reserves the right to seek reimbursement for costs in responding to unusual or burdensome requests. Twilio will not seek reimbursement for costs associated with responding to emergency requests or requests relating to child endangerment.
Twilio typically responds to valid requests for information within two business weeks. However, response times may take longer than two business weeks depending on the complexity and scope of the request.
If you require an expedited response, the required response deadline should be stated clearly in both the submission documentation and the formal request itself.
These guidelines are regularly reviewed by Twilio and are subject to change at our discretion.