NEW YORK – Twitter said government requests for user data and content removal jumped in the second half of 2014, especially in Russia, Turkey and the U.S.
In its twice-yearly transparency report, Twitter said it received 84 percent more requests for content removal and 40 percent more requests for account information from governments from July 1 to Dec. 31, compared with the first six months of 2014.
The report is part of a broader effort by the San Francisco-based company to shed light on government surveillance of its members. Twitter last year filed a lawsuit against the U.S. government, claiming restrictions on the information the company makes public about surveillance demands violate free-speech rights.
Turkey led in requests for tweet takedowns in the recent six-month period, the report said. The Turkish government issued 477 requests to remove content from the site in the period, a rise of 156 percent from the prior six months. The company said some content was withheld in 50 percent of those cases. Russia submitted 91 requests for content removal in the period, and Germany submitted 43 requests.
The U.S. government makes the majority of inquiries about user data, and such requests increased 29 percent in the period to 1,622.
Bloomberg News
