Gov. Jared Polis signed a law Monday that requires social media companies to comply with state law enforcement warrants — about a year after he vetoed a sweeping set of regulations that had included that key provision.
This year’s requires large social media platforms to comply with search warrants within 72 hours and to create streamlined processes for law enforcement to file search warrants. Surrounded at the signing ceremony by people holding portraits of deceased loved ones, Polis said the new law would ensure that social media companies turn over records “before the trail goes cold.”
“It is incredibly important to make sure that our online partners, whether they’re marketplaces and whether they’re social media, respond promptly when needed by law enforcement,” Polis said. “It’s everything from helping to track down stolen bikes and cars to helping protect the lives of Coloradans from dangerous drugs.”
Sponsors of the bipartisan law thanked the governor for signing the measure — and also lamented that it was ever necessary.
“I don’t know of another instance where somebody could knock on your door, give you a warrant, and you could say, ‘I’ll get to it when I get to it,’ ” said Rep. Andy Boesenecker, a Fort Collins Democrat and sponsor of the bill. “That privilege does not exist for anybody else in our society. I think, for me, what this bill says is that social media companies have the same sense of obligation that we all should have to respond in a timely fashion, and not hinder investigations.”
The measure was also sponsored by Rep. Jarvis Caldwell, a Colorado Springs Republican, and Sens. Lisa Frizell, a Castle Rock Republican, and Dylan Roberts, a Frisco Democrat.
, a supporter of the bill, held a portrait of her son, 18-year-old Max Osterman, as Polis signed the bill. Max Osterman died in 2021 after he bought a pill laced with fentanyl through Snapchat.
She said the company dragged its feet with disputes about the warrant, undermining the pursuit of justice for her son.
“Had this bill been in place when they were doing my son’s investigation, perhaps the dealer would not have killed how many people after my son,” Osterman said. “The information would have been provided, and (the dealer) would have been doing time for my son’s death.”
The provision was originally part of , a more sweeping set of social media regulations that Polis vetoed last year. Polis said then that he had broader concerns that the bill would hurt privacy, freedom and innovation, and “potentially subjects all Coloradans to stifling and unwarranted scrutiny of our constitutionally protected speech.”
The legislature attempted, but ultimately failed, to override that veto.
A separate measure in this year’s legislative session, , also seeks to require social media companies to comply with warrants within 24 hours, as well as flag to local law enforcement when a user posts specifics threats on the platform and the platform takes action against the user. That measure was introduced in response to the Evergreen High School shooting in September.
HB-1255 has cleared its first committee but is still awaiting a full hearing from the House.
