Government requests for individual Facebook account data worldwide increased in the second half of 2014, but they were down slightly in both the U.S. and Germany, according to a blog post published by the social media titan on Sunday, March 15th.
The total number of government requests increased to 35,051, from 34,946 in the first half of 2014, Facebook noted in a post including data on its updated Global Government Requests Report.
More on Facebook’s 2H 2014 Global Government Requests Report
The Facebook blog post noted that the company continues to see increases in government requests for data and more content restrictions. The amount of content restricted was up by 11% over the first six months of the year to 9,707 pieces of content restricted (from 8,774). The post noted there was an increase in content restriction requests from Turkey and Russia, but a notable decrease in requests from Pakistan.
The social media titan also highlights that it will “scrutinize each government request and push back when we find deficiencies. We will also continue to push governments around the world to reform their surveillance practices in a way that maintains the safety and security of their people while ensuring their rights and freedoms are protected.”
Details on U.S, government requests
The firm noted it responds to valid requests relating to criminal cases, but also said that it has strict guidelines relating to all government data requests. Every request must be legal based on the laws of the req it said, adding that it rejects or requires greater detail on requests that are overly broad or vague.
Of note, there was a decrease in the number of requests filed by U.S. government. U.S. authorities made 14,274 requests for access to data on 21,731 separate accounts in the second half of 2014, and Facebook provided at least some data for 79% of the requests.
In the first half of the year, the government filed 15,433 requests for access to data relating yo 23,667 accounts. Facebook provided access to some data in around 80% of cases.