A shooting in Oregon could reshape social media privacy
A shooting in Oregon could reshape social media privacy
https://www.opb.org/article/2026/05/04/oregon-murder-case-social-media-privacy/
Publish Date: 2026-05-04 09:03:00
Source Domain: www.opb.org
Visitors take photos at a sign outside Meta headquarters on Thursday, March 26, 2026, in Menlo Park, Calif.
Noah Berger / AP
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On a directionless summer night, two teenage boys crossed paths on the outskirts of Salem. One fatally shot the other. Two teenage girls saw it happen.
Cellphones carried by all four had orbited the scene, tracing the teens’ movements and logging their messages and phone calls. And somewhere in that data may lie the shooter’s best hope to beat a life sentence.
It’s undisputed that David Ayon-Urbano killed Hector de Jesus Gonzalez Mendoza that June 2024 night on the side of Skyline Road.
Ayon-Urbano has since sat in a cell in Linn County Jail maintaining that he never meant to kill 16-year-old Gonzalez Mendoza, that it was a tragic case of wrong place, wrong time, wrong people.
A conviction for second-degree murder carries the possibility of a life sentence. The contents of the cellphone messages may or may not prove defense attorneys’ theory that Ayon-Urbano acted in self-defense, and that one of the witnesses orchestrated the shooting.
To prove that, they need to compel one of the biggest companies in the world to hand over users’ private social media data.
Defense attorney Zachary Stern wants to access messages, call records and geolocation data held by Meta Platforms Inc., the parent company of Facebook and Instagram. He hopes to show Ayon-Urbano was unwittingly caught in the crossfire of rival gangs and protected himself.
White-shoe attorneys for Meta, meanwhile, argue federal privacy protections for users prohibit them from complying with subpoenas from criminal defendants.
So, Stern has argued, how can a defendant be given a fair trial if their attorneys are shut out from credible evidence? A hearing before the Oregon Supreme Court set for Tuesday will determine if Meta should disclose its data.
The case is…
