India ranked second after the US, requesting user data by the government
NEW DELHI| Early 2018 has seen the massive data leak in the US from one of the Social Media giant Facebook. User’s data was leaked to the government in the period of the election. The same happens in India when elections start ticking. A recent report by Facebook revelled there has been a sharp spike in ’emergency requests’ for user information by the Indian government and law enforcement agencies.
Facebook brief the report stating there were 22,684 requests made by the government in the first half of 2019, making India the second-largest country to request for information on its own citizens, after the US. The requests were made for 33,324 users and account out of which it gave information on 54% requests.
These are the highest numbers for India for ’emergency requests,’ up from just 3,245 in 2013 during the same period.
Reports say out of 22,684 requests 7% were emergency-related which means that law enforcement agencies may submit requests without a legal process, a rise of 4% and 2% from the previous two years respectively. In such a scenario, Facebook says it discloses information ‘voluntarily’ if it has a good reason to believe that the matter might lead to imminent physical injury or death.
India jumped from sixth to third in terms of most requests for content takedowns, with the figure being 1,250 for the first half of 2019. Only Pakistan and Mexico are ahead of India in requesting content takedowns.
However, India continues to lead the list for internet disruptions with 40, with most disruptions being recorded in Jammu and Kashmir where mobile internet was suspended and continues to stay suspended to prevent any law and order incident in the wake of the abrogation of its special status.
In 2018, Facebook had a user base of 281 million in India, more than twice from that in 2015 with 135.6 million.
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