I'm going to comment on the portals themselves, not how they are used.
Having portals makes very good sense. In all Western countries and probably pretty much all over the world, the law requires FB, Twitter and others, small and large, to be able to take down content and/or help in investigations. Having a portal to submit requests makes it easier for the relevant teams at FB, Twitter, etc. to:
1. Check that the person submitting the request is indeed a LEO from the expected country.
2. Route the request to the relevant team to confirm that the request is legal in the country from which the request issues.
3. Route the request to the relevant team to actually take down content (or aid with investigation, etc.)
4. Ensure some degree of both auditability and confidentiality during the process.
5. Be sure that you respond to the same person who handed out the request (or at least someone with the same credentials).
The alternative being having LEO deliver subpoenas to the closest office and frantically looking for someone who can handle that subpoena. Or worse, somebody claiming to be a LEO requesting action through phone or e-mail, without any means to confirm identity.
Note that having a portal doesn't mean that the request gets carried out automatically. It just improves communication.
In my country such request are numerous and the mechanisms are abused. You would surely get your house searched for an internet comment. Not the fault of police directly, but they have to detect a certain amount of crime. A falling crime rate would be disastrous for their funding and evaluation.
The dynamics are known, it is known to be stupid, but government fights itself and is not able to change obvious flaws. It would also be too stupid to regulate information. This is ridiculous.
This isn't about obvious cases like drug traffic or child pornography. This is already about slights against some officials. The believe government is the magical competent body is plainly false. And it would need every support it could get to actually fight private entities that gain too much influence but instead we have self-regulating agencies that follow their mission with a certain lack of self-reflection. This is government after all.
You have an argument if it was purely for court issued warrants and subpoenas.
But it's not for that. These portals are specifically for the government to censor people and infringe on the first amendment. These portals are evil and I hope these people go to jail.
Having portals makes very good sense. In all Western countries and probably pretty much all over the world, the law requires FB, Twitter and others, small and large, to be able to take down content and/or help in investigations. Having a portal to submit requests makes it easier for the relevant teams at FB, Twitter, etc. to:
1. Check that the person submitting the request is indeed a LEO from the expected country.
2. Route the request to the relevant team to confirm that the request is legal in the country from which the request issues.
3. Route the request to the relevant team to actually take down content (or aid with investigation, etc.)
4. Ensure some degree of both auditability and confidentiality during the process.
5. Be sure that you respond to the same person who handed out the request (or at least someone with the same credentials).
The alternative being having LEO deliver subpoenas to the closest office and frantically looking for someone who can handle that subpoena. Or worse, somebody claiming to be a LEO requesting action through phone or e-mail, without any means to confirm identity.
Note that having a portal doesn't mean that the request gets carried out automatically. It just improves communication.