Twitter sues US government over surveillance laws

Twitter has filed a lawsuit against the US Justice Department and the FBI, seeking the ability to release detailed information on government surveillance of Twitter users.

The social media company on Tuesday filed a lawsuit in a California federal court to publish its full "transparency report," which documents government requests for user information, including the number of so-called “national security letters” and Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act orders that it receives.

In a statement, the company claimed that restrictions on its ability to speak about government surveillance requests are unconstitutional under the First Amendment.

“We’ve tried to achieve the level of transparency our users deserve without litigation, but to no avail.”

"It’s our belief that we are entitled under the First Amendment to respond to our users’ concerns and to the statements of U.S. government officials by providing information about the scope of U.S. government surveillance."

Like other major tech companies, Twitter releases reports disclosing how many government requests it receives for information on its users but under current US regulations, companies cannot reveal certain information about government requests for users' data.

In July, Twitter said it received for information on its users over the previous six months from governments around the world -- a 46 per cent increase. More than 60 per cent of those requests came from the U.S. government.

The US government has been able to access phone networks and high-speed internet traffic for years to catch suspected criminals and terrorists.

The FBI also started pushing technology companies like Google, Skype and others to guarantee access to their data streams and grab emails, video chats, pictures and more.

It recently emerged that Yahoo was threatened with a daily fine of $US250,000 ($A270,490) by the US government if it didn't comply with demands to give up information on its users.