Yahoo says governments requested data on 40,332 accounts by mid-2013

In its first government transparency report, Yahoo has reportedly revealed data about government requests for user data of 40,332 accounts over the first six months of 2013.

After Microsoft, Twitter, Google and Facebook issued similar reports in a bid to gain back users' confidence in the site, Yahoo stated that the US agencies led the number of requests with 12,444 data requests.

According to the New York Times, Yahoo data related to emails, messenger, photos or address book entries to the US agencies in 4,604 cases which those related to users' personal information including name, location, IP address, etc. totaled to 6,798 cases.

The report said that Yahoo declined to 2 percent of the data requests.

Yahoo stated that other countries asking for user data includes Canada, Britain, Mexico, New Zealand, India, Italy and Brazil.

The company said that it takes user privacy seriously and appreciate its role as a global company in promoting freedom of expression wherever they do business.

Yahoo's general counsel, Ron Bell wrote in a blog, that the number of requests affect less than a hundredth of 1 percent of the company's worldwide user base adding that the company regularly restrains improper data requests.

He further noted that Yahoo plans to publish additional transparency reports every six months, the report added.