Twitter Ranks Governments on Removal and User Info Requests

Usually when it comes to a list that ranks countries, Egypt often ranks very high or very low. If the list is about something negative we end up ranking high, however if it is positive list we rank low. So when we found a Twitter report ranking countries based on governments that make the most content removal requests on Twitter, we were pleasantly surprised.

Twitter has an average of 288 million people using their platform every month, and our reporting that in just the second half of last year experienced an 84% increase in government requesting to remove content. In attempt to be as transparent as possible, Twitter has released a report revealing the increasing rate at which governments are requesting user information and for content being removed. According to Jeremy Kessl, Twitter Senior Manager of global legal policy, “These reports shine a light on government requests for customers’ information. Providing this insight is simply the right thing to do, especially in an age of increasing concerns about government surveillance.”

Assuming that in the aftermath of a popular uprising Egypt would find itself among the top countries in the world, however that is not the case.

When ranking countries based on their government requests to remove content from Twitter, Egypt was surprisingly nowhere to be found. However, leading the pack is none other than neighbouring, enemy du jour, Turkey. It is no secret that Egypt haven’t been getting along with Turkey since the removal of Morsi. Also no longer a secret is that Twitter complied with their 50% of their 477 requests to remove content. Not even a close second is Egypt's BFF du jour, Russia with 91 requests with Twitter complying with 13% of the requests made.

When it comes to ranking countries based on government requests for user information, the list is drastically different. Making the most requests is none other than the US government who made 3299 request with a Twitter compliance rate of 80%. Once again Turkey ranks high, however Egypt appears on this list with two requests. It is unclear if Twitter complied with their requests, but it comes as a somewhat of shock as often the media paints the picture that the government are always on Twitter cracking down on activists. Although they have been arresting plenty of activists, according to this report one can speculate that the majority of arrests and detention weren’t made through information provided by Twitter.

You can read Twitter’s full transparency report here