Twitter sued the United States government regarding the limitations imposed by the Justice Department on what the company can disclose publicly about national security requests for user data.

According to the social media giant, the Justice Department's restriction, that prohibits the company from revealing the number of security letters and court orders for Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act it gets, was a violation of the company's First Amendment rights.

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The lawsuit was filed by Twitter on Monday in a northern California federal court.

Ben Lee, vice president of Twitter, released a blog post, saying that the firm is suing the government in order to release a public address with "full transparency" this year, where in the restricted data were included.

According to Lee, the First Amendment entitles the company to disclose information to the public regarding the scope of the United States government's surveillance.

In January, the Justice Department ruled that technological forms can disclose the number of requests they receive about national security, but only in "broad ranges."

However, Twitter was not satisfied with the departments move.

Lee said the firm should have the right to provide specific information, rather than in broad ranges, such as what the Justice Department has ordered.

In addition, the lawsuit stated that the limitations were "unconstitutional" and discriminated Twitter's right to disclose "information of national and global public concern."

In response, a Justice Department spokeswoman Emily Pierce, said it was evident in the January move, that the department is allowing technological companies to release some information on its intelligence activities.

According to Pierce, in January, the department collaborated with other tech companies, such as Google, about similar concerns, and they were able to reach to an agreement that enables the companies to "provide data about government intelligence requests while at the same time protecting the security of the country."

Meanwhile, U.S. government critics who scrutinizes the secrecy and surveillance programs of the government, commends Twitter's action and encourages other tech companies to do the same.

TagsU.S. Government, data restrictions, Twitter sues U.S., national security