In total, Facebook received requests for information on about 38,000 of its gigantic user base around the world, with the United States by far the largest source of requests numbering between 20,000 and 21,000 for the first six months of the year.
The UK sought information on 2,337 users, France sought information on 1,598 users and Germany sought information on 2,086 users.
The requests for information are all related to official investigations, and they vary widely on their nature. Facebook, for example, receives requests for information of accounts belonging to missing persons, and in criminal cases where Facebook may have been used in some way to facilitate the activity.
The social network does not comply with all requests, and has an informative page outlining its approach to responding to government requests here.
If you want to see how many requests were made by your country, and how many Facebook complied with, then view the Global Government Requests Report on Facebook.com.
Written by: James Delahunty @ 28 Aug 2013 6:15
