India records 55% jump in total Twitter info requests by govt in H1 2017

US topped the request list, submitting 33% of total government information requests

Indian authorities made 261 requests for account information from Twitter during the January-June period this year, up 55 per cent from the previous six months, the microblogging platform has said.

Also, the Indian government and courts made 102 and 2 requests, respectively for removal of content during January- June 2017, according to the latest Twitter Transparency Report.

"India had a 55 per cent increase in total information requests (261 requests in this reporting period against 168 in the previous reporting period) that affected 57 per cent more accounts," Twitter said in the report.

The US topped the request list, submitting 33 per cent of total government information requests, it added.

Total number of requests originating from the US decreased by 8 per cent, while that from the UK declined by 11 per cent, it added.

Twitter describes information requests by the government as requests issued by law enforcement and other government agencies.

Twitter said since the inception of its Transparency Report in 2012, it has received government information requests from 83 different countries.

It said it received six per cent more government information requests (emergency disclosure requests and non- emergency requests) from January 1 through June 30, 2017 compared to the previous reporting period.

The US also topped the tally of emergency disclosure requests accounting for 33 per cent of the requests made, followed by Japan (14 per cent) and the UK (10 per cent).

Examples of some of the types of emergency disclosure request that Twitter receives include incidents of self-harm and terrorism-related threats.