Facebook released its latest global Government Requests Report on April 28, revealing for the first time the percentage of requests it has received that contained non-disclosure orders.
Chris Sonderby, Facebook's deputy general counsel, said that around 60 percent of all the requests for user data they received from the U.S. government contained a gag order, which prohibited the company from informing users that their data was being requested by the government.
Facebook's report covers the second half of 2015. It revealed that the number of user data requests from governments went from 41,214 to 46,763 requests - a 13 percent increase - while the number of posts that needed to be restricted because of local laws had also increased by more than two times, from 20,568 to 55,827 posts.
The Government Requests Report also included updated data on requests related to national security that the company received from authorities in the United States through National Security Letters and covered by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
Facebook also provided case studies as examples of requests made by governments on how content should be restricted and how the company took action on the requests.
One notable case is when the company received a legal request from the French government to block a particular photo that was connected to the Paris terror attacks in November 2015. The image, taken inside the Bataclan theater and showing the remains of several attack victims, was alleged to violate the country's laws that uphold and protect human dignity. In response, Facebook restricted access to the image, but the action was limited to France.
As a way of reiterating the company's position that it does not surrender user information voluntarily to governments, Facebook said that it will keep on campaigning for improvements in public policy, including the laws and procedures governing global law enforcement cooperation as well as those pertaining to government access to information.
Facebook added that the company supports the newly passed Email Privacy Act because it would update an old law on government access to Web-based communications and codify the requirement for the so-called "warrant-for-content."
Lastly, Facebook emphasized that it does not provide "back doors" or direct access to users' data to any government. Each user data request is scrutinized for legal sufficiency regardless of which country sent it, Sonderby said. If, for instance, the request is deemed as overly broad or deficient, Facebook will "push back hard" and will even take matters to court if needed.
"To protect the information of the people that use our service, we will continue to apply a rigorous approach to every government request we receive," said Sonderby.
