UK information requests from Facebook rise 16pc to 4,416
Whitehall is making more requests for citizens’ personal information, Facebook reported yesterday.
The social media giant’s Global Government Requests Report for the second half of 2014 said: “The vast majority of these requests relate to criminal cases, such as robberies or kidnappings.”
Requested data ranged from “basic subscriber information, such as name and length of service,” to “IP address logs or actual account content,” the company added.
The United Kingdom made 4,416 requests in 2014, up nearly 16 per cent since 2013. Facebook complied about 72 per cent of the time. The US led with a 2014 total of 29,707 information requests.
The report also presents the number of Facebook content items per country restricted or removed due to violations of local law.
Facebook said it “challenge[s] requests [for restriction] that appear to be unreasonable or over broad”.
The UK saw three restrictions in the second half of 2014, down from nine in the first half.
Last year, restrictions were highest in India (10,792 items) and Turkey (5,517).