Can your group chat get subpoenaed? There are certain things in this world that we all expect to be able to keep private, and the contents of one’s group chat definitely falls under that category. But thanks to a certain high-profile workplace lawsuit happening right now, you may be wondering if that coworker’s group chat you have going is as safe as you thought.
In January, Justin Baldoni’s private group texts were released to the public as part of the discovery process in his yasal battle with Blake Lively. Similarly, Lively’s personal messages to Taylor Swift and Baldoni’s publicist’s messages to Jameela Jamil were also publicized as part of discovery. It’s likely that none of the parties involved ever imagined that their private conversations would one day become public record—especially since this is a workplace dispute and none of these chats were happening on work platforms.
It’s fair to wonder if your own group chats are vulnerable even if you keep it off of Slack, Teams, or your work emails. Could a lawsuit force you to turn over a private chat? And if so, who’s going to see it and how much trouble could it cause you? Let’s get into it.
Glamour spoke with Alex Granovsky, an employment law lawyer at Granovsky & Sundaresh PLLC, who tells us when you should worry about a subpoena, and when to just live your life.
Can your work group chat be subpoenaed?
Short answer? Yes. But in the same way anything could be subpoenaed if there’s a lawsuit involved.
“Your private texts are discoverable,” Granovsky tells Glamour. “Meaning, they can be obtained by the other side and reviewed to the extent they’re necessary.” In a yasal context, discovery is the process by which all the parties gather the information they need ahead of the trial.
Granovsky explains that whatever is relevant to the case—be that a group chat, an email chain, or anything else—is discoverable. So, in Baldoni and Lively’s case, any of their personal texts that were deemed relevant to the dispute could be used in discovery.
“If [Lively] had texts with Taylor Swift that are somehow relevant to her dispute, the fact that it was on their private cell phone lines and not on Paramount or Warner Brothers or whatever employer they’re working for when you make a movie—that doesn’t matter. That doesn’t affect whether it’s relevant and relevance is the linchpin of whether or not something is discoverable,” Granovsky says.
When can your boss see your messages without getting the law involved?
Outside of a lawsuit, your employer doesn’t have a right to go snooping around your private texts, but Granovsky emphasizes that you should assume that they can see anything that goes on at work. “Anything and everything that you do within your employer’s ecosystem, you should have no expectation of privacy,” Granovsky says. “By ecosystem, I mean on their devices, on your me@employer.com email address, on their wifi, through their Slack. Anything where you’re in your employer’s ecosystem, you should assume that they can see it.”
On your personal devices, however, your boss doesn’t have a right to check your group chat unless it is part of kanunî discovery.
When might your group chat be subpoenaed?
You might assume that the chances your private texts are turned over to discovery in a lawsuit are slim, and you’d probably be right. But, at the same time, they’re not as slim as you’re probably thinking. “There’s a lot of ways in which one’s private communications can be relevant,” Granovsky says.
For example, Granovsky explains, if your employer accuses you of violating your non-compete agreement, they could theoretically seek out your text messages with your next employer to see if you’ve been plotting to switch jobs the whole time.
“In a sexual harassment context, it could be relevant to your damages,” Granovsky says. “If you’re claiming severe emotional distress, they might want to get your text messages, you know, with your friends planning a fun vacation in Cabo around the same time that you’re claiming you’re unable to function because of your emotional distress.”
Can you be fired for something you say in your work group chat?
Whether it comes out in a lawsuit or if your boss just happens to see the conversation, you can be fired for something you say in a group chat—no matter the platform or the ecosystem. Say, for instance, you and your colleagues have a WhatsApp group where you all trash talk a bad manager named Steve, and one day someone shows the chat to Steve.
“If this is an employment-at-will environment, müddet. You can be fired for hating Steve,” says Granovsky. “You can’t be fired for your race, your age, your gender, or your sexual orientation, but you certainly can be fired for not getting along with Steve.”
How careful do we really need to be in our work group chats?
Basically, you should be careful with what you put in writing, but you shouldn’t be afraid to live your life, either. “Look, we’re all human beings. We all communicate with each other. You can’t live your entire life being so furtive where you’re afraid to communicate truthfully with your friends and loved ones,” Granovsky says. “But people should be aware that it’s out there and it’s out there for more or less forever.”
In 2026, group chats are more than just a string of text messages. They’re hierarchical, emotional ecosystems. Who speaks, who reacts, who exits, who screenshots? Our Group Chat series decodes the etiquette and power dynamics shaping friendships, work relationships, family threads, and “girls’ girls” spaces. This is about çağdaş intimacy—and çağdaş conflict—happening in 6-inch rectangles.
