Colorado bill targeting social media, online dating sites clears first hurdle

Grieving parents went before state lawmakers to demand more accountability from social media companies.

They say the companies drag their feet on responding to law enforcement warrants even when kids' lives are on the line.

 
Over the last couple years, lawmakers have brought sweeping bills to reign in social media, including forcing them to comply with warrants, but the bills have failed.

Republican state Sen. Lisa Frizell and Democratic state Sen. Dylan Roberts introduced a measure this year that is narrowly tailored to judicial warrants.

It would give social media and dating sites that have at least one million users eight hours to confirm receipt of a judicial warrant and 72 hours to comply with it.

Parents testified that some companies now take weeks and even months to respond.

Kim Osterman says her 18-year-old son, Max, died from fentanyl after buying what he thought was a painkiller on Snapchat. She says Broomfield Police Department investigators had to issue two warrants over nine months before the company turned over information that led to the dealer's arrest and conviction. 

In the meantime, Osterman says that dealer continued to sell drugs, leading to four more deaths. 

"They purge their information quickly," Osterman told CBS Colorado. "The only reason the information was even there is because (those companies) received the request to preserve the records."

Andrew Sidley-Mackie, a Colorado criminal defense attorney, testified in opposition to the bill. He argues companies need more than 72 hours to comb through social media posts and ensure that user privacy is protected. 

"In this small minority of cases where there really is a need for a fast response to a production order, there's nothing preventing law enforcement from explaining that need to a judge, and getting a special order for that fast response," Sidley-Mackie told CBS Colorado. 

The bill also requires social media and online dating companies to keep a hotline staffed around the clock for law enforcement.

The Senate Judiciary Committee approved the measure unanimously. It now heads to the floor for debate.