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    Thursday, July 5, 2012

    Twitter Releases First Transparency Report

    by Michael Loatman

    RSS

    Government requests for Twitter Inc. user information in the first half of 2012 overwhelmingly have come from the United States, according to the company's first transparency report, which it released July 2.

    Twitter said it was inspired to create the report by a similar project undertaken by Google Inc. The report details the number of times a country’s government has requested user information or asked content to be withheld, as well as how many Digital Millennium Copyright Act takedown notices have been received. Twitter also noted how often information was produced or content taken down.

    The company said governments should be held accountable, “especially on behalf of those who may not have a chance to do so themselves.”

    Specific findings include:

    • The United States made 679 user information requests, about 80 percent of the total number of requests.
    • Japan, Canada, and the United Kingdom were the only remaining countries with more than 10 requests, at 98, 11, and 11.
    • Twitter responded to 75 percent of U.S. information requests but only 20 percent of Japan's.
    • There were 3,378 DMCA takedown notices between January and June, resulting in the removal of 5,275 tweets.
    • No content was removed in response to a court order or a government agency or police request.

    Twitter said it plans to update the transparency report twice a year.

    Copyright 2012, The Bureau of National Affairs, Inc.

     
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