Twitter Transparency Report: Micro-blogging platform Twitter reported that governments around the world are asking the company to remove content from user accounts or spy on their personal information. The social media company on Thursday revealed in its new Transparency Report that India made the highest legal demand globally to remove content posted by verified journalists and news outlets on Twitter during July-December 2021.
In its latest transparency report, Twitter said that India is only behind the US in seeking Twitter account information. According to the report, the highest 19 percent requests came from America, in which users’ account information was sought. Twitter said there were legal demands to remove content from the accounts of 349 verified journalists and news outlets around the world. This is an increase of 103 percent over the period January 2021 to June 2021.
According to the report, 114 such legal demands were placed by India, 78 by Turkey, 55 by Russia, and 48 by Pakistan. India topped this list in January-June 2021. During that time, out of a total of 231 demands received globally, India had sought information or legal action on 89 accounts.
11 tweets removed during January-June 2021
Twitter said that ‘legal demands’ include court orders and other formal demands to remove content, which can be made by both a government entity or lawyers representing individuals. As part of these demands, 11 tweets were removed during January-June 2021 while 17 tweets from globally verified journalists and news outlets were removed during the second half of 2021.
According to the report, the highest 20 percent requests came from US, in which users’ account information was sought, while 19 percent of the total global cases came from India. Japan, France and Germany were also among the top five countries to remove a post from Twitter or ask for account information. Globally, Twitter received 11,460 such demands.
Giving details of the legal demands made by India, Twitter said that during July-December 2021, a total of 47,572 demands were made worldwide to remove the content. Of which 3,992 (8%) requests were from India. These included 23 court orders and 3,969 other legal demands. During this time, Twitter banned 88 accounts and 303 tweets in India.