Twitter said that there has been a continuous increase in requests made by governments all over the world for data about users of the social network, along with requests to remove specific content and copyright takedowns.
Twitter revealed the trend in the company's fifth Transparency Report, which was discussed in detail by the Senior Manager for Global Legal Policy of Twitter, Jeremy Kessel, in the company's official blog.
"With each successive edition, we aim to provide more meaningful and constructive insight into the global government and copyright requests we receive, and their respective impact, with the goal of making this report more compelling and informative for you," Kessel wrote.
More countries requested for user information in the past six months compared to the previous period, with over half of the requests coming from within the United States. Twitter reported a total of 2,058 requests made from January to June from 54 countries, eight of which sent in requests for the first time, compared to the 1,410 requests that the company received from July to December of last year.
The requests are usually part of ongoing criminal investigations, which require specific documentations to be accepted by Twitter. Law enforcement agencies that are looking to acquire non-public information on Twitter users, such as their e-mail addresses, need to first present a subpoena or court order. Agencies that are looking to acquire the contents of a user's communications, which includes private messages, need to first present a search warrant.
Twitter was able to produce "some information" in 52 percent of cases, and 72 percent when considering only requests coming from the United States.
On top of requests for user information, the company also reported a total of 432 requests for content removal, which represents a 15 percent increase from the 377 requests made in the previous half.
Twitter also received 9,199 copyright notices in the first half of the year, which is a 38 percent increase compared to notices received in the second half of last year.
Twitter's Transparency Report, however, does not mention requests made in the name of national security, as the company and other Internet companies have been prohibited from releasing information on the said kind of requests.
There are other companies that have released similar transparency reports, including Google, Facebook, Yahoo, Microsoft and Apple.
Kessel added in his blog post that Twitter is looking to localize the company's Transparency Report and website, currently translating them into a dozen languages.
