Facebook’s government requests for user data rises 24 percent

Facebook said requests by governments for user information rose by about a quarter in the first half of 2014 over the second half of last year. In the first six months of 2014, governments around the world made 34,946 requests for data. During the same time, the amount of content restricted because of local laws increased about 19 percent.

We’re aggressively pursuing an appeal to a higher court to invalidate these sweeping warrants and to force the government to return the data it has seized.

Facebook blog post

Google reported in September a 15 percent sequential increase in the number of requests in the first half of this year, and a 150 percent rise in the last five years, from governments around the world to reveal user information in criminal investigations. The figures come after the head of Britain’s electronic eavesdropping service agency accused internet firms of being ‘in denial’ over the use of their networks by terrorists. Robert Hannigan, GCHQ director, said such firms had become the “command and control networks of choice” for a new generation of web-savvy criminals and extremists.