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 Twilio customers, Twilio customers’ end users, civil litigants, or criminal defendants. 

How Do I Submit a Request?

To submit your legal request or inquiry, please create an account on our Government Request Portal Kodex: https://app.kodex.us/twilio/signin

Requirements for Submitting a Legal Request:

In order for Twilio to process your request it must:

• 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;
• clearly specify the categories of records or information sought;
• include sufficient account-identifying information (e.g., phone number or account identifier); and
• state the time period for which customer information is requested.

US Legal Process Requirements

Twilio will disclose customer information in accordance with our Terms of Service, Privacy Notice, 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 is required to compel Twilio to provide the contents of communications sent or received through Twilio’s products or services. 

International Legal Request Requirements

Twilio discloses customer information solely in accordance with our Terms of Service, Privacy Notice, 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.

Twilio Intent to Disclose Receipt of Request

Per Twilio’s Privacy Notice, 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.

Please note: If your request makes Twilio aware of a violation of our Terms of Service or Acceptable Use Policy, Twilio will act to prevent further abuse, which may alert the customer to Twilio’s awareness of its misconduct. If you wish to prevent potential awareness on the part of Twilio’s customer(s), your request should explicitly include instruction to Twilio to not take action.

Emergencies

Under Twilio’s Privacy Notice, 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.

Requirements for Twilio to respond to an emergecy request

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 based on 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 prevent the harm and why normal disclosure processes would be insufficient or untimely;
• contain the name and contact information of the individual law enforcement or authorized government agent serving the request;
• clearly specify the categories of records or information sought;
• include sufficient account-identifying information (e.g., phone number or account identifier); and
• state the time period for which customer information is requested.

Note: Per Twilio’s Privacy Notice, 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 Requests

Twilio does not guarantee the existence or retention of particular customer information. However, Twilio will preserve any customer information in its possession for up to 90 days in response to a valid preservation request.

Requirements for Twilio to respond to a preservation request

For Twilio to process a preservation request, the request 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;
• clearly specify the categories of records or information sought;
• include sufficient account-identifying information (e.g., phone number or account identifier);
• state the 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.

Wiretap and CALEA Orders for Pen Registers or Trap & Trace

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).

Submit requests via Kodex: https://app.kodex.us/twilio/signin

Takedown Requests

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.

What Services Does Twilio Provide?

Twilio is a cloud communications platform that enables software developers and enterprise customers to embed voice, messaging, and other communication features into their applications.

Customers use Twilio’s services and phone numbers to build applications utilized by their own end users. These applications 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 Application Programming Interface ("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.

What Types of Customer Information Does Twilio Have?

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 and 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. Law enforcement and government agencies are encouraged to obtain customer data directly from Twilio customers whenever possible.

Requests for customer information associated with a number registered to Twilio

Phone numbers registered to Twilio are typically subleased to a Twilio customer, who may then distribute that number to their own end user or subscriber. In most cases, 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, allowing you to seek further details from the customer directly.

Additional Information

Reimbursement for Requests

Twilio reserves the right to seek reimbursement for the costs associated with responding to law enforcement requests.

Response Time

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.

Service Address

Twilio requires all law enforcement agencies to use Kodex when possible. Kodex is the best way to ensure that you receive a timely and complete response. If you are not able to use Kodex, our address for service is:

Twilio, 101 Spear Street, Fifth Floor, San Francisco, CA 94105.

These guidelines are regularly reviewed by Twilio and are subject to change at our discretion.