SAN FRANCISCO — In a setback for internet and telecom providers, a federal appeals court on Monday ruled that provisions in the Electronic Communications Privacy Act barring companies from disclosing government surveillance requests do not violate the First Amendment.

A unanimous panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit rejected arguments by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital civil liberties group, that it is unconstitutional for companies to be permanently barred from disclosing any information about the requests.

The group had also argued that the requests, known as “national security letters” (NSLs), must be subject to automatic court review instead of placing the burden on companies to initiate any challenge to their scope or the breadth of the nondisclosure requirements.