Pakistan Govt Requests to Facebook for User Data Rise Sharply

According to Facebook, government requests for user account data rose by nine percent in the second half of 2016 as compared to the first half of 2016. No doubt, Pakistan Govt Requests to Facebook for User Data Rise Sharply. Moreover, the  total requests for the period July 2016 to December 2016 increases more than 40 percent as compared to the previous six months.

Pakistan Govt Requests to Facebook for User Data Rise Sharply

The Government of Pakistan made a total of 1,002 requests for 1,431 account requests in the second quarter of 2016. Moreover, Facebook produced 67 percent of data in these cases. The social networking website also provided information on the number of account preservation requests by Pakistan – 442 cases.

 See Also: Facebook to Send Delegation to Pakistan Over Blasphemous Content Issue

The number of content restrictions for violating local law went down by 28% globally compared to the first half of 2016, from 9,663 to 6,944. For the very first time, Facebook has introduced  internet disruptions that impacted access to Facebook products and services during the half. Currently, there is only one internet disruption blocked in the second half of 2016.

Facebook said:

We apply a rigorous approach to every government request we receive to protect the information of the people who use our services. So, we scrutinize each request for legal sufficiency, no matter which country is making the request, and challenge those that are deficient or overly broad. We do not provide governments with “back doors” or direct access to people’s information.

Based on legal requests from the Pakistan Telecom Authority and Federal Investigation Agency, Facebook has restricted access to 6 pages. In the first half of 2016, Facebook has restricted 25 pages. Moreover, the disruption was restricted to specific regions and coincided with the observance of the chelum of Imam Hussain (RA).

Recently, Facebook administration has removed 85% of blasphemous material from the social networking website. They have removed the content on the request of Government of Pakistan.

Also Read: Facebook Removes 85% Blasphemous Content on GoP Request