Facebook released the Global Government Requests Report for the first half of 2016, which details the number of government requests received for data, as well as the number of items restricted for violating local law in countries where the service is available.
Facebook Inc said that government requests for user account data rose 27 percent in the first half of 2016 compared to the second half of last year, with U.S. law enforcement agencies topping the list. Government requests for account data globally rose to 59,229 from 46,710 and more than half contained a non-disclosure order that prohibited the social networking website from notifying users.
Requests for content restriction, the number of items restricted for violating local laws, decreased by 83 percent from the second half of 2015, Facebook said in a blog post. The Paris attacks in November last year elevated the number of content restriction requests. Facebook for the first time provided information about government requests to preserve relevant user account information. The company received 38,675 preservation requests for 67,129 accounts.
The company also said, "As we have previously emphasized, we apply a rigorous approach to every government request we receive to protect the information of the people who use our services. We scrutinize each request for legal sufficiency, no matter which country is making the request, and challenge those that are deficient or overly broad. We do not provide governments with “back doors” or direct access to people’s information. We’ll also keep working with partners in industry and civil society to push governments around the world to reform surveillance in a way that protects their citizens’ safety and security while respecting their rights and freedoms."
With inputs from Reuters
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