On November 8, 2017, the Ninth Circuit concluded that the First Amendment did not protect the anonymity of Glassdoor.com users from a grand jury subpoena.  Glassdoor operates the website Glassdoor.com, which permits employees to post anonymous reviews about their employers.  An Arizona grand jury is investigating a government contractor that administers two VA healthcare programs for fraud and misuse of government funds.  Eight Glassdoor.com users posted anonymous comments about the government contractor indicating that the users may have some information relating to the crimes under investigation.  For example, one comment reads that the contractor “manipulate[s] the system to make money unethically off of veterans/VA.”  Although there are 125 reviews of the contractor, the grand jury subpoena sought only information on the eight individuals whose reviews “referenced potentially fraudulent conduct.”
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