Bermuda Post

Sunday, Mar 26, 2023

Twitter receives record number of gov’t requests to remove posts

Twitter receives record number of gov’t requests to remove posts

Ninety-five percent of demands in January-June 2021 came from five countries – Japan, Russia, Turkey, India and S Korea.

Twitter has said governments made requests to remove content from a record number of accounts between January and June last year, with 95 percent of the demands coming from five countries.

The social media platform said on Tuesday that 43,387 legal demands for the removal of content from 196,878 accounts were made in the six months, the largest number of such requests in a reporting period since it started releasing transparency reports in 2012.

Most came from Japan, followed by Russia, Turkey, India and South Korea. The site is blocked in several countries, including China and North Korea.

“We’re facing unprecedented challenges as governments around the world increasingly attempt to intervene and remove content,” Sinead McSweeney, Twitter’s vice president of global public policy and philanthropy, said in a statement.

“This threat to privacy and freedom of expression is a deeply worrying trend that requires our full attention.”

Twitter said it either “withheld” access to content in certain countries or required account holders to remove some or all of the reported content in response to 54 percent of the global legal demands in this period.

Non-government requests


Japan, Brazil and the United States were the top three requesting countries when it comes to non-government requests, with all three accounting for 89 percent of all requests and 87 percent of the total accounts specified for this period.

These requests come from third parties seeking account information from Twitter, for example, as non-parties in a civil action, or on behalf of defendants in criminal cases.


Social media giants face ongoing scrutiny from global governments and regulators over the material they allow on their platforms. In the past year, Twitter has faced high-profile tussles with governments from India to Nigeria over content moderation and regulation.

Twitter has also, along with companies like Facebook and Google, faced criticism in the US and other countries over how it combats issues like misinformation and violent rhetoric on its platform.

The number of accounts specified in the legal requests was up almost 50 percent from 131,933 accounts from the previous six months, according to Twitter data.

The number of government removal requests increased 14 percent from 38,524 in the last reporting period, July-December 2020, and was up about 2.8 percent year-over-year, Twitter said.

The company said in July 2021 it had seen a surge in government demands worldwide in 2020 to take down content posted by journalists and news outlets, but it said the number of such accounts subject to these requests decreased 14 percent in the latest reporting period.

The report also said requests from governments for Twitter to preserve account information were down by about 4 percent from the previous reporting period. It said the US accounted for about 57 percent of these requests and the country was also the single largest source of government information requests.

Government entities request to preserve account information from Twitter to temporarily save information pertaining to an investigation. These requests give authorities time needed to get the valid legal process, such as a search warrant, required to lawfully obtain that saved information.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Bermuda Post
Close
0:00
0:00
In a dramatic U-turn against His Government: Judicial Overhaul Legislation Must Be Halted, Says Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant
Powell: Silicon Valley Bank was an 'outlier'
Donald Trump arrested – Twitter goes wild with doctored pictures
NYPD is setting up barricades outside Manhattan Criminal Court ahead of Trump arrest.
Credit Suisse's Scandalous History Resulted in an Obvious Collapse - It's time for regulators who fail to do their job to be held accountable and serve as an example by being behind bars.
Home Secretary Suella Braverman tours potential migrant housing in Rwanda as asylum deal remains mired in legal challenges
Paris Rioting vs Macron anti democratic law
'Sexual Fantasy' Assignment At US School Outrages Parents
Credit Suisse to borrow $54 billion from Swiss central bank
Russian Hackers Preparing New Cyber Assault Against Ukraine
Jeremy Hunt insists his Budget will get young parents and over-50s back into work
If this was in Tehran, Moscow or Hong Kong
Nashville police officer, and a female driver shooting one another
TRUMP: "Standing before you today, I am the only candidate who can make this promise: I will prevent World War III."
Mexican President Claims Mexico is Safer than the U.S.
A brief banking situation report
Lady bites police officer and gets instantly reaction
We are witnessing widespread bank fails and the president just gave a 5 min speech then walked off camera.
Donald Trump's asked by Tucker Carlson question on if the U.S. should support regime change in Russia?.
'No relation to the American SVB': India's SVC Bank acts to calm depositors amid brand name confusion.
Good news: The U.S. government is now guaranteeing all deposits, held by, Silicon Valley Bank, and the funds are available as of today
Silicon Valley Bank exec was Lehman Brothers CFO
In a potential last-ditch effort, HSBC is considering a rescue deal to save Silicon Valley Bank UK from insolvency
BBC Director General, Tim Davie, has apologized, but not resigned, yet, following the disruption of sports programmes over the weekend
Elon Musk Is Planning To Build A Town In Texas For His Employees
The Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse effect is spreading around the world, affecting startup companies across the globe
City officials in Berlin announced on Thursday that all swimmers at public pools will soon be allowed to swim topless
Fitness scam
Market Chaos as USDC Loses Peg to USD after $3.3 Billion Reserves Held by Silicon Valley Bank Closed.
A primitive judge in Australia sparked outrage when he told a breastfeeding woman to leave his courtroom for being “a distraction"
Barcelona is feeling the heat as they face corruption charges over payments to former vice-president of Spain's referees' committee, Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira
Senator Tom Cotton: If the Mexican Government Won’t Stop Cartels from Killing Americans, Then U.S. Government Should
Banking regulators close SVB, the largest bank failure since the financial crisis
The unelected UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, an immigrant himself, defends new controversial crackdown on illegal migration
Old clip of Bill Gates saying Ukraine is a big, fat, corrupt sinkhole is going viral
Man’s penis amputated by mistake after he’s wrongly diagnosed with a tumour
In a major snub to Downing Street's Silicon Valley dreams, UK chip giant Arm has dealt a serious blow to the government's economic strategy by opting for a US listing
How do stolen goods end up on Amazon, eBay and Facebook Marketplace?
It's the question on everyone's lips: could a four-day workweek be the future of employment?
Is Gold the Ultimate Safe Haven Asset in Times of Uncertainty?
Spain officials quit over trains that were too wide for tunnels...
Don Lemon, a CNN anchor, has provided a list of five areas that he believes the black community needs to address.
Hello. Here is our news digest from London.
Corruption and Influence Buying Uncovered in International Mainstream Media: Investigation Reveals Growing Disinformation Mercenaries
Givenchy Store in New York Robbed of $50,000 in Merchandise
European MP Clare Daly condemns US attack on Nord Stream
Former U.S. President Carter will spend his remaining time at home and receive hospice care instead of medication
Tucker Carlson called Trump a 'demonic force'
US Joins 15 NATO Nations in Largest Space Data Collection Initiative in History
White House: No ETs over the United States
×