14 DAY TRIAL // Google's latest Transparency report shows that the company has received a lot more government requests to take down content in the first half of the year than in the second half of 2012.
According to the company, between January and June 2013, Google received 3,846 government requests in regard to 24,737 pieces of content, which means that the numbers went up by 68 percent compared to the second semester of 2012.
“Over the past four years, one worrying trend has remained consistent: governments continue to ask us to remove political content. Judges have asked us to remove information that’s critical of them, police departments want us to take down videos or blogs that shine a light on their conduct, and local institutions like town councils don’t want people to be able to find information about their decision-making processes,” writes Susan Infantino, legal director for Google.
“These officials often cite defamation, privacy and even copyright laws in attempts to remove political speech from our services. In this particular reporting period, we received 93 requests to take down government criticism and removed content in response to less than one third of them. Four of the requests were submitted as copyright claims,” Infantino goes on.
The company has noticed a spike in requests coming from Turkey and Russia. Google says that the Transparency Report demonstrates that the situation is becoming worrisome as governments request more and more information in an effort to limit free speech online.
At the same time, the document reveals that Google is pressured to act differently when it comes to the types of requests it can get. For instance, Google has fully or partially complied with 65 percent of requests for user data, but it responded to only 36 percent of government requests to remove content.
The Internet giant has been battling for months to gain the right to reveal more information about the secret government requests it receives.