Twitter becomes frustrated with U.S. government restrictions limiting transparency
On Thursday Twitter released their biannual transparency report, a practice that was started by Google four years ago that has since fueled other large technology companies to do the same.
The report shows a steady increase in global requests regarding user information, content removal and copyright takedown.
The latest report shows a 46 percent increase in government requests for such information between the first half of 2014 and the first half of 2013. The requests came from 54 different countries, but much like many cases before, the U.S. accounts for 60 percent of overall requests.
According to Twitter, the requests from government agencies around the world are usually associated with criminal acts and have doubled since the first transparency report was published in 2012.
Twitter and Google among others have been pressing the federal government to allow for more disclosure regarding the number and types of of information requests companies receive. Twitter has met with the U.S. Department of Justice as well as the Federal Bureau of Investigation in an effort to improve transparency on the number of national security requests they receive.
“We think the government’s restriction on our speech not only unfairly impacts our users’ privacy, but also violates our First Amendment right to free expression and open discussion of government affairs,” said Jeremy Kessel, Twitter’s manager of global legal policy in a statement made earlier this year. “We are also considering legal options we may have to seek to defend our First Amendment rights.”
