Twitter Has Received Over 1,000 Government Requests For User Data This Year
There was a clear increase in government requests for data, most of which came from the U.S.
The government will sometimes ask tech companies for user info in terrorism investigations, missing child reports, and when trying to track down a fugitive.
It's pretty routine, and tech companies like Twitter say they don't fulfill such requests unless the government makes a strong case.
Twitter released its first transparency report in July 2012. A few months later, a court forced Twitter to hand over user information on an Occupy Wall Street protest.
Information requests
From January 1 to June 30 of this year, Twitter received 1,157 information requests from the government. The U.S. government alone made 902 of those requests, or 78% of all requests received.
Removal requests
Governments will sometimes request certain content to be removed that may be illegal in their respective jurisdictions.
During the first half of this year, Twitter received 60 removal requests.
Copyright notices
Twitter will sometimes receive takedown notices for content that may infringe upon copyrights. Since Twitter's last report, it has seen a 76% increase in takedowns.