In a discovery victory for the Book Authors and the Newspapers that seek discovery of d OpenAI employees “direct messages sent on X.com belonging to certain employees who used their personal phones and X.com accounts for work purposes,” Magistrate Judge Ona Wang rejected one of the grounds asserted by OpenAI, that such social media messages were barred from discovery under California Labor Code § 980.
Judge Wang found no such bar:
“Accordingly, because § 980 does not prohibit employers from producing relevant, workrelated messages from social media accounts, Plaintiffs’ motions to compel direct messages
from X.com in both cases are GRANTED.”