Lawmakers want quicker social media warrant responses in wake of Evergreen High School shooting

Federal and state lawmakers unveiled legislation Monday that was drafted in response to the Evergreen High School shooting, aiming to require social media companies to respond more quickly when investigators are checking out potential warning signs in online posts.

U.S. Rep. Brittany Pettersen unveiled a federal bill that would require social media companies to respond to warrants and subpoenas related to "credible threats" within three days, versus the 35 days it can take now.

She said response delays were a "devastating and glaring policy failure" that contributed to the shooting in Evergreen in September.

State Rep. Tammy Story, an Evergreen Democrat, said she planned to introduce similar legislation in the Colorado legislature in coming weeks, echoing another bill filed last month. A bill that included a three-day timeline for social media companies to comply with state warrants was vetoed by Gov. Jared Polis last year, though his cited concerns were with other provisions in the legislation.

The FBI had been investigating threats made by Desmond Holly, the 16-year-old shooter in Evergreen, for two months before he shot two students and himself in September, officials said.

That included filing an initial search warrant on July 5 looking for Holly's IP address, a numeric designation that identifies a location on the internet; a second search warrant seeking additional information; and finally, a third search warrant seeking Holly's home address, Jefferson County Sheriff Reggie Marinelli said.

Hours after the shooting happened, the third warrant came back with the address. She didn't provide a more specific time frame.

"Because of the time it took to get those search warrants back, the shooting had already occurred," Marinelli said.

"Tragically, that identity wasn't revealed until after the shooting, nearly two months later - preventing our law enforcement from intervening and being able to stop this from ever happening," Pettersen, a Democrat whose congressional district includes Evergreen, said Monday.

Before the attack, the FBI had found that Desmond was "discussing the planning of a mass shooting with threats non-specific in nature." But agents could not identify the account holder for the social media accounts, so there was no probable cause for arrest or other federal action before the attack, the FBI said in a statement shortly after the shooting.

The shooter appeared to be involved in violent, nihilistic online networks, according to extremism experts. His social media accounts exhibited a mix of white supremacy, antisemitism, and a fascination with violence and mass shootings, including the 1999 Columbine High School massacre.

On Sept. 10, Desmond shot two students at Evergreen High and then died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The two other students survived.

Pettersen said she was still working to win bipartisan support for the federal measure, which is one of three she said she planned to introduce. The U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate are each controlled by Republicans. She will also need to overcome any objections from deep-pocketed social media companies.

"Unfortunately, there's been significant pushback from social media companies in general for any accountability," Pettersen said, though she added that she had been working with TikTok.

But if the measure were law, she was confident "that they would absolutely work to meet the moment" and work with law enforcement on warrants to identify possible threats.

In addition to the response deadline bill, Pettersen also introduced legislation that would allow the Department of Justice to issue grants so local entities could buy firearm storage and distribute it to community members. Her third bill would create a federal grant to provide training and assistance to implement extreme risk protection orders, also called red-flag orders, and develop standardized training nationwide.

At the state level, Democrats control each chamber of the legislature. The bill last year that included the deadline for complying with warrants, Senate Bill 25-86, passed with sweeping bipartisan support, though backers couldn't rally enough support to override Polis' veto.

Polis spokesman Eric Maruyama said Monday that Polis believes the search warrants bill that was already filed - Senate Bill 11 - takes a good approach to ensure "social media companies are responsive to warrants" so that law enforcement can investigate online crime.

SB-11, which has a bipartisan set of sponsors and is set for its first hearing Wednesday, would also give a 72-hour window for online platforms, including social media companies, to comply with search warrants. It would require them to maintain a staffed hotline for law enforcement to contact.

But Maruyama cautioned that the governor would want any bill, including Story's still-pending legislation, to meet certain constraints.

"The governor wants to protect internet freedom while making Coloradans safer, but would have serious concerns about any bills that negatively impact freedom, innovation and privacy," Maruyama wrote in an email. "He is not comfortable with the government forcing social media companies to act as law enforcement."

Story said she'd had an "initial discussion" with the governor's office about this year's upcoming bill and that she believed it is in "a better place" than last year's vetoed bill.

"We are choosing to prioritize the safety of our students and teachers over the administrative convenience of billion-dollar corporations," Story said. "We owe the people of Evergreen nothing less."