California Now Requires Social Media Platforms to Respond to Warrants Within 72 Hours

Under a California law that takes effect July 1, 2025, all social media platforms with one million or more users will be required to maintain a law enforcement contact process and comply with search warrants within 72 hours. And this new statute applies to platforms regardless of where they are headquartered, as long as they have California residents as users. Like the California data privacy laws, this promises to continue the trend of California laws setting national standards for tech platforms.

The California statute defines a social media platform as “a public or semipublic internet-based service or application that has users in California and meets both of the following criteria:

1. A substantial function of the service or application is to connect users in order to allow users to interact socially with each other within the service or application.*
2. The service or application allows users to do all of the following:
   
   • Construct a public or semipublic profile for purposes of signing into and using the service.
   • Populate a list of other users with whom an individual shares a social connection with the system.
   • Create or post content viewable by other users, including, but not limited to, on message boards, in chat rooms, or through a landing page or main feed that presents the user with content generated by other users.”
     ‍
     (* The law does contain an exception for stand-alone messaging apps.)

Social media platforms are required under existing California law to state whether they have mechanisms for reporting violent posts available to users and nonusers of the platform. This addition to the state’s Business and Professions Code expands on that requirement specifically and significantly as it pertains to responses to law enforcement. Here’s a look at the provisions of the new status and their implications.

Enhanced Contact Process

Section 22946.1(a) The required law enforcement contact process must make a staffed hotline available to law enforcement personnel, provide continual availability of the contact process, and include a method to provide status updates on warrants pursuant to 22946.

Many social media platforms do not yet have a dedicated phone line for law enforcement. Now, not only will platforms be required to establish a hotline for law enforcement personnel, but they will also have to ensure that it is staffed with trained responders. Additionally, companies will need to have an efficient management system to track subpoenas and warrants so that they can advise law enforcement of the status of their requests.

72 Hours Compliance Period

Section 22946.1(b) First, unless provided by any other law, all social media platforms must comply with search warrants within 72 hours if both the search warrant is provided to the platform by a law enforcement agency and the subject of the search warrant is account information which is controlled by a user of the platform. Second, if a court finds that the social media platform has shown good cause for an extension for compliance on a search warrant and the extension will not cause an adverse result, the court can grant a reasonable extension to the platform.

Part (b) may place the greatest operational burden on social media platforms. Previous California law gave companies 5 days to respond to requests—that timeline has been reduced now by 40%. Should the responding company be inundated with requests, this can put serious strain on resources to meet deadlines. Additionally, the 72-hour deadline may require staff to be available on weekends—otherwise, a request received late in the week may not be processed in time.

Complying with California’s new law will require significant operational readiness from social media platforms, particularly those operating globally. Maintaining a 24/7 staffed hotline with trained personnel introduces both logistical and cost challenges. Platforms must also invest in secure, automated systems to triage, track, and respond to legal process within mandated timeframes, while preserving a clear audit trail. At the same time, companies must navigate the inherent tension between rapid compliance and user privacy commitments.

As regulatory expectations grow more demanding, California’s new law underscores the critical importance of having trained professionals, clear workflows, and robust systems in place to manage legal process efficiently and responsibly. At ZGSS, we’ve long advocated for a proactive, human-led approach to subpoena and warrant response—one that balances speed, accuracy, and privacy. This legislation affirms the need for platforms to move beyond ad hoc or automated-only solutions and invest in trusted, accountable teams. As we highlighted in our recent article, compliance isn’t just about meeting deadlines—it’s about building systems that uphold trust while withstanding legal and operational scrutiny. Platforms that fail to adapt risk more than noncompliance; they risk losing user confidence and regulatory goodwill.