Government data requests for Twitter and Periscope account information from January to June 2021. Image: Twitter
The United States was the single largest source of government information requests during the six-month period ending June 30, 2021, according to the most recent Twitter data. transparency ratio.
Twitter said over the reporting period, it received a total of 12,400 requests for data from governments, with 26,200 accounts specified, from 98 different countries since 2012, including South Africa and the State of Palestine, which appeared in the report for the first time. Year-on-year, there was a 15% drop in global government requests for information and a 49% drop in specified accounts, but a 21% increase in compliance rates.
Of this total, the US made 3,026 requests, accounting for 24% of the global volume and 27% of all accounts specified worldwide. Twitter said it complied, in whole or in part, with 68% of requests for information made by the US government. Specifically, the main investigative agencies were the Federal Intelligence Bureau, the US Department of Justice and the US Secret Service. These figures put the US back at the top of the list of global searchers after falling to second place last year.
The second highest volume of government requests came from India, accounting for 18% of global information requests and 30% of global specified accounts. Twitter received nearly 1,500 fewer requests from India, while the number of specified accounts decreased by 217 during this reporting period.
Japan and France rounded out the top four. Combined, the top four accounted for three-quarters of all global government requests for information over the six months. Twitter noted that it was the third report in a row where these countries represented the top four global searchers in different orders.
Twitter added that it partially disclosed or did not disclose information in response to 64% of global government requests for information, a decrease of 9% compared to the last reporting period.
When it came to non-government requests for information, the social media giant reported receiving requests from 35 different countries since 2014, including for the first time Argentina, Israel and Switzerland.
“These typically include civil actions, such as divorce proceedings, as well as requests made by criminal defendants, where they typically seek information in support of their legal defense,” Twitter said.
Japan, Brazil and the US made up the top three countries, with the three accounting for 89% of all 460 total non-government requests it received and 87% of the total 1,100 specified accounts during the period.
In terms of legal requests from governments in the six-month period, Twitter said it received 43,387 legal requests to remove content, targeting 196,878 accounts.
“This is the largest number of accounts ever subject to removal requests in a reporting period since our first transparency report was published in 2012,” Twitter said.
He attributed the increase to two legal requirements that were filed by Indonesia’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology.
“The Indonesian government alleged violations of its domestic law related to sexual services and illegal adult content on 102,363 accounts. Following the investigation, Twitter took action against 18,570 accounts for violating illegal or certain regulated goods or services, media sensitive, non-consensual nudity. , and child sexual exploitation policies, meanwhile, the remaining material reported was consistent with Twitter’s rules,” Twitter said.
“Other increases were seen in accounts and posts held on Twitter. The increase in Tweets held was in part due to content reported from Russia that allegedly violated local laws against the promotion of suicide.
“Over 52% of all tweets withheld in this reporting period included content related to suicide promotion in Russia. The increase in withheld accounts was particularly the result of Twitter’s compliance with an Indian blocking order issued under the Information Technology Act of India 2000.”
Of the total global volume of legal claims, 95% originate from five countries. Japan led the pack accounting for 43% of all global claims received. 93% of the requests from Japan were mainly related to laws related to narcotics and drug control, obscenity or finance-related crimes, Twitter said.
The next highest volume of legal claims came from Russia, accounting for 25% of global legal claims and representing a 56% increase from the number of claims they filed during the previous reporting period. Twitter said 71% of the Russian requests were related to Russian laws that prohibit the promotion of suicide.
Turkey accounted for 13% of global legal claims, showing a 30% increase in claims compared to the previous reporting period, making it the third largest claimant. India accounted for 11% of global legal claims, up from 18% a year ago, while South Korea remained in fifth position, accounting for 5% of all global legal claims.
The latest transparency report also showed that Twitter asked account holders to remove 4.7 million tweets that violated the platform’s rules, permanently suspended 453,754 unique accounts for violating its child sexual exploitation policy, and suspended nearly 45,000 unique accounts for promotion of terrorism and violent organizations.
When it came to COVID-19 misinformation specifically, in December 2021 alone, Twitter challenged 3,515 accounts, suspended 666 accounts and removed just over 4,500 pieces of content globally.
“Overall, Twitter continues to see an overall downward trend in the number of offending accounts, which is likely due to the changing behaviors of these actors, coupled with continued improvements to our defenses in this area,” Twitter reported.
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