Government Information Requests

Tumblr routinely receives requests for information about our users from government agencies around the world. In emergency cases, when permitted by law, we may voluntarily disclose limited user data. In all other cases, we do not voluntarily grant government agencies access to user data for law enforcement, intelligence, or surveillance purposes. We will only disclose user information in response to valid legal process, issued by a U.S. authority. The scope of user information disclosed is dependent on the type of legal process received. For more information on our requirements for information requests, please see our legal guidelines. 

Evaluating Government Information Requests 

We disclose user data only in response to valid legal process such as a subpoena, search warrant, or court order issued by a U.S. authority, in accordance with Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, and/or New York state law. 

We carefully review all legal process we receive to ensure it is complete and valid. All requests must accurately identify the specific Tumblr user account by unique identifiers such as; an email address, username at issue, or URLs of specific posts and/or comments. For more information on our requirements for information requests and what data may be available, please refer to our legal guidelines.

Additionally, if a request or inquiry highlights a potential violation of our privacy policies or Terms of Service, we will review it in accordance with our standard enforcement procedures. 

Emergency Requests

As permitted by US law, we may voluntarily disclose user information to law enforcement agencies if we have good faith belief there is an imminent emergency involving death or serious physical injury to any person, and Tumblr may have information necessary to prevent the harm. For detailed information about emergency requests, and how an emergency request can be submitted, please refer to our legal guidelines.

User notification

It is our policy to notify users about requests for their information, and provide them with a copy of any legal process underlying those requests, unless we are prohibited by law or a court order from doing so.

You can learn more about our policies and procedures for handling government and private information requests in our legal guidelines.

Select a time period from the menu for more detailed information.