Facebook has released its Global Government Requests Report, which provides the number of data requests it receives from government agencies in the first half of 2016.
The report details how the number of government requests increased by 27 percent compared to the latter part of 2015. The requests from various governments worldwide increased from 46,710 to 59,229.
More than half of this number came from U.S. law enforcement agencies. These requests were also accompanied by a non-disclosure clause that prevented the social media network from notifying its users that they were being targeted in these requests.
Here are the five countries that made the most number of requests for account information:
• U.S. 23,854 from 38,951 accounts
• India 6,324 from 8,290 accounts
• UK 5,469 from 7,199 accounts
• France 3,763 from 4,045 accounts
• Germany 3,695 from 4,599 accounts
Content Restriction Requests
Facebook also published the number of content restriction requests it received. These are mainly requests to restrict publishing content that violates local laws. The numbers are down by 83 percent from 55,827 to 9,663. According to Facebook, the sharp decline of the numbers was due to the huge number of requests made to restrict a single image that was taken during the Paris terrorist attack from last year.
Here are the five countries that made the most number of requests for the restriction of content:
• France 2,213
• India 2,034
• Germany 1,093
• Brazil 1,019
• Israel 962
Content Preservation Requests
For the first time in its transparency reporting, Facebook also provided the number of requests it received to preserve relevant user account information. The company received a total of 38,675 preservation requests for 67,129 Facebook users.
During this process, Facebook will preserve a temporary snapshot of the account and will wait until law enforcement has complied with its guidelines. The company will not disclose anything until the request has been received through what it considers a "formal and valid legal process."
Emergency Requests
The company also received 3,106 emergency requests, wherein it disclosed relevant information to law enforcement regarding matters that involved "imminent risk of serious injury or death."
Chris Sonderby, Deputy General Counsel for Facebook, ended the report by reiterating the company's stance that it will thoroughly examine and scrutinize every government request that it will receive, and that it will make sure that each request is legally sufficient regardless of which country it came from.
The social media site also said that it will directly challenge government requests that it considers "deficient or overly broad," and that it does not provide governments with "back doors" or "direct access" to its users' account information.
Facebook also emphasized that it will continue working with civil society groups that promote reforms with the way governments conduct their surveillance programs.
For more information, check out Facebook's Government Requests Report.
