Artur_Gaspar

"Android" as it is distributed in mobile devices has some Google proprietary components.

That was the first thing I thought too.

Laws are scary, lawyers are scary. Maybe npm's legal team (if they have one) concluded the Kik company was in the right, or that it was useless or not worth the risk to be taken to court.

People are just going to use throwaway emails.

It's not hard to not redirect bit.ly but redirect victims that click the link.

Some .gov sites need the redirect for whatever reason, but they could check the referer.

Yes, I believe it is possible that they don't have the data. No, I don't think they collect private messages for targeted advertising or for any purposes at all.

I'm not saying Facebook is right, but following the law isn't necessarily the right thing to do, neither need one always expect punishment.

As someone commented, it could be the case that Facebook/WhatsApp does not even have the data any more. Also, WhatsApp operates as a separate business from Facebook. In my opinion this looks a lot more like a display of power by the government, than an actual effort in the investigation.

I don't see either how Facebook would be "protecting themselves". They have little to gain and much to lose by not cooperating with the government. It's not about publicity because it wouldn't have made the news at all if they complied.

Now, even mentioning the following may be going into conspiracy theory territory, but telephone companies were trying to get WhatsApp banned not long ago. I wouldn't be surprised if this event would further their goals.