F6. Data about government requests for content or account restriction

1. Does the company break out the number of requests it receives by country?
2. Does the company list the number of accounts affected?
3. Does the company list the number of pieces of content or URLs affected?
4. Does the company list the types of subject matter associated with the requests it receives?
5. Does the company list the number of requests that come from different legal authorities?
6. Does the company list the number of requests it knowingly receives from government officials to restrict content or accounts through unofficial processes?
7. Does the company list the number of requests with which it complied?
8. Does the company publish the original requests or disclose that it provides copies to a public third-party archive?
9. Does the company report this data at least once a year?
10. Can the data be exported as a structured data file?

Companies frequently receive requests from governments to remove, filter, or restrict content or accounts. We expect a company to regularly publish data about the number and type of government requests it receives, and the number of such requests with which it complies. Companies may receive these requests through official processes, such as with a court order, or through informal channels, like through a company’s flagging system intended to allow private individuals to report content that violates the terms of service. Companies should be transparent about the nature of these requests. If a company knows that a request is coming from a government entity or court, the company should disclose it as part of its government requests reporting. Disclosing this data helps the public gain a greater understanding of the relationship between companies and governments in policing content online, and helps the public hold companies and governments accountable for their obligations to respect and protect freedom of expression rights.

In some cases, the law might prevent a company from disclosing information referenced in this indicator’s elements. For example, we expect companies to publish exact numbers rather than ranges of numbers. We acknowledge that laws sometimes prevent companies from doing so, and researchers will document situations where this is the case. But a company will nonetheless lose points if it fails to meet the standards specified in all of the above elements. This represents a situation where the law causes companies to fall short of best practice, and we encourage companies to advocate for laws that enable them to fully respect users’ rights to freedom of expression and privacy

Potential sources:

• Company transparency report