Facebook hands over user account data in response to 80 percent of U.S. law enforcement requests

Facebook released its Global Government Requests Report Wednesday, in which it reported that it provides at least some user data in response to almost 80 percent of U.S. law enforcement requests.

The most recent reporting period is the first half of 2015. Facebook produced data in response to 79 percent of requests in the last half of 2014.

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Below is the breakdown of the specific types of law enforcement data requests in the current period, with the number of users effected, and the number of requests where data was supplied.

Google provides similar information in its twice-yearly Transparency Report. While the company has yet to release it’s half-year numbers for 2015, it reports handing over user data to authorities in response to only 63 percent of government requests in the last half of 2014, and in 65 percent of cases in the first half of 2014.

Facebook stresses that it doesn’t hand over user data easily. “We scrutinize each request we receive for legal sufficiency, whether from an authority in the U.S., Europe, or elsewhere,” writes Facebook lawyer Chris Sonderby in a blog post. “If a request appears to be deficient or overly broad, we push back hard and will fight in court, if necessary.”

Government data requests are on the rise worldwide, Facebook says, increasing 18 percent from 35,051 requests in the last half of 2014 to 41,214 in the first half of 2015. The lion’s share of the requests come from U.S. law enforcement.

The report also states that the amount of content restricted by countries for violating local law increased by 112 percent over previous period. Countries restricted 20,568 pieces of content in the first half of 2015, compared with only 9,707 in the last half of 2014.