Facebook released on Wednesday, Nov. 11, its updated Government Requests Report showing off a notable growth of Facebook data requests across the globe.
In the United Kingdom, requests for personal data of Facebook users surged by 60 percent within a year.
In the first six months of this year, it has been shown that requests for data from the government and law enforcement authorities rose to 3,384.
The Cupertino-based company disclosed that while requests were of varied reasons, a large slice of the pie is connected to criminal investigations, which include kidnapping, robberies and a few cases of terrorism. A few of the requested info include details like when a user has lately logged into their account, IP addresses, private messages, posts online and even photos.
"As part of our ongoing effort to share more information we have received from governments around the world, Facebook regularly produces a Government Requests Report," explains Facebook in a post. "We have strict processes in place to handle these government requests. Every request we receive is checked for legal sufficiency."
Facebook notes in the post that government requests involve its different products and services, which include Facebook, Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp.
According to Facebook, the 3,384 data requests during the first six months of this year covered 4,484 accounts. These data requests in the first half of the year appear to be more than what was recorded in the same period last year (2,110) and way back in 2013 (1,975).
Additionally, the company complied with 78 percent of requests from its 30 million users in the U.K. This number has grown as compared to 72 percent in the same period a year ago.
All in all, there were 41,214 requests for the first six months of this year, which is equivalent to 18 percent increase when compared to the total requests during the first half of last year.
In terms of the total number of requests, the United States is on top of the list. U.S. law enforcement agencies requested data from 26,579 accounts, which increased from 21,731 accounts in the second half of last year. This number makes up over 60 percent of requests across the globe.
Last year, other companies like Microsoft Corp., Yahoo Inc. and Alphabet Inc. (previously Google) also started publishing details with regard to the number of government requests for data they get.
