The New Jersey Supreme Court unanimously ruled Thursday that law enforcement must obtain a wiretap to force near-simultaneous disclosure of private social media postings, handing Facebook a win in a case closely watched by civil liberties advocates.

In a reversal of lower court decisions, the high court ruled against authorities who argued a warrant is sufficient to obtain nearly real-time release of such communications. That argument is unsupported by federal or state statute, the court said, adding that allowing such releases would effectively neuter New Jersey’s wiretap law.

“It’s great to see the New Jersey Supreme Court make clear that whenever the government seeks ongoing access to our private conversations, it must meet the heightened protections required under state law and the federal and state constitutions,” said Jennifer Granick, surveillance and cybersecurity counsel with the American Civil Liberties Union’s speech, privacy, and technology project.

In separate cases focused on two men under investigation for drug offenses, authorities obtained a communications data warrant to force Facebook to disclose social media postings — within 15 minutes of their creation — made by the pair over a 30-day span.

The state contended such releases, which Facebook said were as close to real-time as technology allows, could be made witho