Government requests seeking user information on Twitter up by 46 pc this year

Twitter has recently revealed that it has received 46 percent more requests for user information in first half of 2014, compared to 2013, from government around the world.

The rise was attributed to Twitter's ongoing international expansion, though the company said it appears to follow an industry trend.

However, the number of request seeking user information has seen steadily grown from 849 requests in the first half of 2012 to 2,058 requests in the first half of 2014.

Twitter said the requests were typically made in connection with criminal investigations. For this period, 52 percent of the requests have been complied with, in whole or in part.

The latest transparency report also showed that requests have been received from eight new countries, bringing to 54 the number of countries that have requested for information.

The United States continues to lead the chart with a 61 percent share of requests. Followed by Japan with 9 percent, while Brazil, Spain and Turkey have more than doubled their previous respective volume.