Twitter: Government User Data Requests Grow, 81% From U.S.

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Twitter's transparency report shows that governmental requests for data have grown over the course of 2012.

Governments from around the world made 1,858 requests for Twitter data during the second half of 2012 – up from 849 requests in the first half.

Twitter's statistics come from its updated transparency report, which covers the requests for user data the company received from July to December 2012. 

More than 81 percent of user data requests came from the U.S., where 815 requests for data were made, according to Twitter's report, an increase over the 679 requests in the first half of 2012.

More than 60 percent of U.S. requests came following a subpoena order. Another 19 percent came following a court order. Twitter said it at least partially complied with those requests 69 percent of the time.

Japan, with 62, made the second most Twitter user data requests. Japan was one of the few countries to have made more requests for user data in the first half of 2012 (98).

The UK also came in the top five for most requests with 25. In comparison, UK officials only made 11 requests for data during the first half of 2012.

Twitter's report follows the release of Google's updated transparency report earlier this month.

This article was originally published on Search Engine Watch.