Government Demands To Remove Twitter Content Hit Record High

Twitter revealed on Tuesday that governments' requests for content to be removed from the platform hit a record high in the first six months of 2021. The Hill reports: Governments made 43,387 legal demands for content to be pulled down from 196,878 accounts between January and the end of June. Twitter's latest transparency report showed that 95 percent of the requests came from Japan, Russia, Turkey, India and South Korea. The platform "withheld" access to content or required accounts to take down posts in response to 54 percent of the demands. Twitter's transparency report also showed that government requests to preserve account information fell four percent compared to the previous reporting period, the last six months of 2020. The United States accounted for 57 percent of preservation requests.

From Turkey?

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm shocked, shocked I say! Does this imply the Erdogan is a useless, thin-skinned, inept excuse for a leader, who has betrayed the principles of Attaturk?

An interesting tidbit

[korgitser]

95% of takedown requests come from outside the US. 57% of requests to save user data for investigation came from the US. 24% of account information requests come from the US. It would appear that while the rest of the world goes after infromation they don't like, the US goes after people it doesn't like.

Re:

[AmiMoJo]

Given that slightly more than half of the complaints were upheld, it would be interesting to know why.

If a request to remove comes from a Japanese court, do they automatically accept it? Most social media companies respond to court orders made in jurisdictions where they operate.

Re:

[bill_mcgonigle]

> the US goes after people it doesn't like.

Yeah, highest incarceration rate in the world.

But your 7th-grade Social Studies teacher told you it was The Land of the Free, so feel free to ignore the data.

Re:

[Joviex]

But your 7th-grade Social Studies teacher told you it was The Land of the Free, so feel free to ignore the data.

Nice cracker jack logic. We arent the land of the free because some people commit crimes.

We are the most free nation ever to be on this Earth. Maybe you should stop trying to use broken seventh grade logic out here in adult world.