Facebook transparency report

Report reveals which governments have requested data - and what Facebook handed over.


Facebook, which now has over 1.15 billion active users (up 21% in the last 12 months), has published its first transparency report.

The report gives details of the number of times countries have requested criminal or national security-related data on Facebook users.

In the first six months of 2013, 71 countries requested data on approximately 38,000 users.  The United States made the most requests, followed by India and the UK. 

Facebook acceded to requests from the US 79% of the time; 50% of the time for India and 68% of the time for the UK.

Other country-specific statistics:

  • France requested data on 1,598 users – 30% of requests were granted at least some data
  • Germany requested data on 2,068 users – 37% of requests were granted some data
  • Italy requested data on 2,306 users/accounts – 53% of requests were granted some data
  • Spain requested data on 715 users – 51% were granted some data
  • The Netherlands requested data on 15 users (36% granted)

More information.