India 2nd in government requests for users’ data on Facebook

San Francisco, May 24 (IANS) The Indian government requested Facebook to provide data for 20,805 users (including 861 emergency requests) in the July-December 2018 period -- second only to the US government -- and the social networking giant provided some data in 53 per cent of the cases.

During the second half of 2018, the volume of content restrictions based on local law increased globally by 135 per cent, from 15,337 to 35,972.

"This increase was primarily driven by 16,600 items we restricted in India based on a Delhi High Court order regarding claims made about PepsiCo products," said Facebook.

The US government asked for users' data in 41,336 cases wherein Facebook provided some information in 88 per cent of the cases, revealed the company's latest Transparency Report for the second half of 2018.

"In the second half of 2018, government requests for user data increased globally by seven per cent from 103,815 to 110,634," Chris Sonderby, Vice President and Deputy General Counsel at Facebook, said in a statement late on Thursday.

This increase reflects normal growth for the second half as compared to previous reporting periods.

"Of the total volume, the US continues to submit the highest number of requests, followed by India, the UK, Germany and France," he added.

The information requests include content restrictions based on local law, reports on locations where access to Facebook products and services were disrupted, and reports of counterfeit, copyright and trademark infringement.

In the US, Facebook received three per cent fewer requests than last reporting period, of which 58 per cent included a non-disclosure order prohibiting Facebook from notifying the user.