In the first half of 2021, Twitter received fewer requests for user information from governments and law enforcement agencies than in the previous six months — but increased its compliance to a level that meant more user information was released in general.
That’s according to data released by the social media platform on Tuesday as part of its latest transparency report. of Information Requests Report lists the number of requests as 12,369 globally between January and June 2021, with an overall compliance rate of 36.2 percent. In the previous reporting period for the last six months of 2020, Twitter received 14,561 requests and fulfilled 30 percent.
Overall, Twitter said the volume of user information requests was down 15 percent compared to the previous reporting period for the last six months of 2020. But the social platform also complied with a higher percentage of requests, leading to a higher number of successful requests in total.
Twitter did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publication.
According to the report, agencies affiliated with the United States government accounted for just under a quarter (24 percent) of the government’s requests for information from January to June 2021. The second highest volume of requests came from India, which which accounts for 18 percent of global information requests, and Japan was third in the world.
Consistent with global patterns, US agencies submitted fewer information requests in total than in the previous reporting period – a 7 percent decrease – but received an increase in compliance resulting in more successful requests overall.
During the first half of 2021, Twitter said that fulfilled 68 percent of the requirements by US agencies, a significant increase over the 2020 average of 59.5 percent compliance. But in the long term, Twitter has been less likely to comply with these requests: in 2015 and 2016, the compliance rate for requests from US agencies was around 80 percent.
In it instructions for law enforcement, Twitter states that non-public information about Twitter users (eg, IP address logs and other account holder details) will not be released except in response to legal process, such as a subpoena or court order, except in the case of an emergency such as a terrorist incident or other imminent physical threat of harm. Requests for the content of communications between users, such as direct messages, also require a search warrant under these guidelines.
“Twitter generally requires a search warrant to disclose any content of the communication, as users have the highest privacy interest in this type of information,” the report’s page on US information requests explained. “However, Twitter may disclose content in the US without obtaining a search warrant in rare circumstances, consistent with applicable law. For example, if there is an emergency involving an imminent threat of death or serious bodily injury, in response to certain national security requirements, or with the legal consent of the account holder.”
Twitter also reports child sexual exploitation content as required by US law, the report said.
