The Twitter App has released its 20th transparency report, and the results don’t seem to be all that reassuring for those who fear abuse of personal information. Apparently, the social network has recorded “record highs” in the number of requests for account data in the period of July / December 2021, with ben 47572 legal requests on 198931 account. In the crosshairs were above all the media, on which the legal demands by governments are increased by 103% compared to the first half of the year. But let’s try to clarify the issue.
Twitter: App Reveals Increased Government Requests for Account Data
According to the latest Twitter App Transparency Report, governments have made a ton of inquiries on the platform’s account data. Especially with regard to the media. In this case, the largest share of requests came fromIndia (114), followed by the Turkey (78) and by Russia (55). In general, however, the United States confirm an important first, as they accounted for 20% of all account information requests worldwide. In second place in this overall ranking, which includes not only the media, is Russia, with the 18% of the volume of requests done. Although these appear to have fallen by 20% in the past six months.
In any case, the Twitter App stated that it tried to restrict or deny access to information whenever possible. More specifically, it denied 31% of US data requests and restricted or closed 60% of global requests. And he opposed 29 civilian attempts to identify anonymous US users, citing the First Amendment as a motivation. Indeed, he has brought two of these cases to court, and for the time being he has managed to win a case. In any case, what matters to the company is who the data requests are increased from the beginning of 2020and this latest transparency report indicates they are just continuing to grow.
After all, it is hardly a secret that society sees attempts to target journalists as one growing threat to press freedom. And the situation will only get worse, if we consider the Russia-Ukraine conflict. One thing is clear, then: The next transparency report could bring even worse data to light. And this would not surprise us at all.