Case 1:20-mc-00036-JEB-DAR Document 8 Filed 08/04/20 Page 5 of 18 INTRODUCTION Respondent Facebook, Inc. respectfully opposes the application of The Republic of The Gambia (“The Gambia”) pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1782. Facebook appreciates the gravity of the issues that The Gambia has brought before the International Court of Justice (“ICJ”), and has announced its willingness to assist accountability efforts regarding Myanmar. But Facebook’s ability to provide the information identified in The Gambia’s application is circumscribed by U.S. law. Specifically, this Section 1782 application seeks to force Facebook to violate the Stored Communications Act, 18 U.S.C. § 2702(a), a provision of the federal criminal code that protects billions of global internet users from violations of their right to privacy and freedom of expression. Absent a statutory exception, the SCA strictly prohibits Facebook from disclosing the contents of communications on its platform in response to a civil subpoena like the one proposed here. Thus, granting The Gambia’s application would result in a subpoena with which Facebook could not lawfully comply. For that reason, and because the application fails to satisfy other legal requirements for obtaining discovery under Section 1782, this Court should deny the application. Foreign governments have well-established ways of obtaining the type of content information at issue here, namely through mutual legal assistance treaties (“MLATs”). International conventions and treaties also permit for mutual legal assistance. See, e.g., The Palermo Convention on Transnational Organized Crime, United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime, Art. 18, 2225 U.N.T.S. 209 (which The Gambia and the United States have ratified). In addition, the SCA itself permits Facebook to disclose the contents of its users’ communications “to a foreign government pursuant to an order from a foreign government that is subject to an executive agreement that the Attorney General has determined and certified 1