If you think that someone on Twitter has posted some damaging or private information about you for public display, you have every constitutional right to subpoena twitter. A subpoena is a legal term for a court order requesting the receiver, in this case Twitter, to provide details about an account. The goal for serving a subpoena is to retrieve information about the person who posted the data in question. The information that a subpoena provides is gathered to assist in an investigation and if successful even compensate you for losses suffered as a result of the posts.

Under normal circumstances, an order to subpoena twitter is only issued after a lawsuit has been filed against Twitter, so follow due process by first instituting a case in a court of law. You can hire an attorney to act on your behalf or you may do your research and do it on your own. There are also cyber investigators and agencies who are professionals and know how to handle these situations. In order for Twitter to honor your data request, you have to serve them with a legal request from a known law enforcement agency. This would include institutions like the State Investigative Bodies, for example, a government department, the courts or the attorney’s office.

The court order would request data about the user, including the username and URL of the Twitter account, provide details about what specific information you require from the posts and its relationship to your investigation. Be sure to include a valid email address that Twitter will use to contact you about the process.

In order to properly subpoena Twitter, you have to use the appropriate channels to reach the company. Twitter accepts a legal process from law enforcement agencies delivered by mail or fax. You cannot serve the order by e-mail as any attached document will be automatically deleted by their mail servers. Twitter will then consider your request and take appropriate action. The law allows Twitter to raise objections against your request if it’s not properly constituted and this may make affect on your request. For instance, if you subpoena Twitter requesting personal information, like E-Mail contents, the demand may be considered objectionable forcing the company to oppose your order.

If the request is considered valid and fully lawful, Twitter will inform the account holder about your request warning about the impending revelation of the user account if the affected user does not respond properly.  If the concerned user does not respond in time or fails to raise legal action, the company has no choice but to reveal the requested details so long as the information is within law.

Normally, the revealed information will show the IP address of the account holder, the e-Mail address, geographical location, names and obviously, the actual posts as these can be real evidence in a court of law. Be aware that legal processes to subpoena Twitter take time. The process can take anywhere from a few days to weeks depending on the amount of requested information and the concerned parties. And if the concerned individual(s) decides to institute a court injunction, well, be ready for a lengthy court battle.