SAN FRANCISCO
The number of government requests of Facebook account information rose slightly in the second half of last year, according to the social network’s new Global Government Requests Report.
“We publish this information because we want people to know the extent and nature of the requests we receive from governments and the policies we have in place to process them,” according to an official blog post written by Monika Bickert, Facebook’s head of global policy management, and Chris Sonderby, the company’s deputy general counsel.
Government requests for account data grew to 35,051 in the last six months of 2014, from 34,946 in the earlier half of the year, according to the report that was released Sunday. During the last six months of 2013, Facebook claimed it received 28,147 requests, so 2014 saw a jump in overall requests even if the numbers remained relatively flat during the year.
The company listed increases in requests from India, while requests from the United States and Germany fell.
Facebook also released numbers about requests from governments to remove content due to violations of local laws. That figure grew 11 percent to 9,707 pieces of content restricted globally, up from 8,774 in the first half of 2014.
India and Turkey were major contributors to the amount of content removed, with 5,832 and 3,624 pieces of content restricted, respectively. Russia also issued more requests for content removal than previously, while the Pakistani government requested less.
“Moving forward, we will continue to scrutinize each government request and push back when we find deficiencies,” Bickert and Sonderby claimed. “We will also continue to push governments around the world to reform their surveillance practices in a way that maintains the safety and security of their people while ensuring their rights and freedoms are protected.”
Facebook began publishing these transparency reports in 2013 amid leaks from former NSA contractor Edward Snowden regarding widespread government surveillance in the U.S. and abroad.
