India among top 4 countries to ask Twitter to remove content, request user data: Report

The microblogging site announced that it won't publish a formal transparency report for the time period

India was among the top four countries to send legal directions to Twitter to remove content and request user data between January 1 and June 30, 2022, the company said on April 26 said.

Twitter said that the site received 53,000 legal requests to remove content from governments during the period. "The top requesting countries were Japan, South Korea, Turkey and India," the report said, adding that disclosure rate for these requests were "varied".

Also Read: Twitter says removed more content in first half of 2022 than in previous six months

On government information requests for user data, Twitter said that it received 16,000 such directions. " The top five requesting countries seeking account information in H1 2022 were India, the United States, France, Japan, and Germany," it added.

These figures gain significance as Twitter has been embroiled in a legal tussle with the Indian government over a few content removal directions. In their petition before the Karnataka HC, Twitter had said that some these  directions were vague, did not meet the legal criteria for removal and so on.

It is also important to note that these figures correspond to the time when Parag Agrawal was still the CEO of Twitter, and before Musk took over the company in October 2022.

Twitter made these revelations as it shared data on their health and safety efforts for the time period. The microblogging site also announced that it won't publish a formal transparency report for the time period.

Overall, Twitter said, for the reporting period, the micro-blogging site "required users to remove" 6,586,109 pieces of content that violated the sites rules and regulations -- an increase of 29 per cent from H2 2021.

"We took enforcement action on 5,096,272 accounts during this period (a 20% increase), and 1,618,855 accounts were suspended for violating the Twitter Rules (a 28% increase)," it said.