Facebook – Government Requests Report
Facebook has an interactive world map for finding reports on government data requests. You can also download the report as a CSV file.
Be forewarned that in summary form, the data is nearly useless in terms of tracking the basis for government demands.
On the other hand, Government demands for Facebook user data soar by 24%, sounds impressive, 24% is after all a large increase, until you read the details:
Facebook says a total of 34,946 user data requests covering 49,479 accounts were made – an increase of 24% – with the US again leading the way with 15,433 inquiries. India made 4559 requests, and Germany, France, the UK, Italy and Brazil all made over 1000 requests for information on users.
Oh, so 15,433 queries for the US out of 1.35 billion monthly active users as of September 30, 2014. (Facebook report.)
For round numbers, let’s call it 15,000 queries for the US out of 1,350,000,000 accounts.
I am hard pressed to explain the poverty of terrorists on Facebook since the US media and government claim terrorists are lurking behind every bush and in every dimly lit corner.
Is the absence of terrorists in meaningful numbers on Facebook evidence of their skill at hiding? Or is it more like keeping pink elephants away by snapping your finders, a sign of a poverty of terrorists?
PS: If 15,000 possible terrorists and other criminals sounds like a scary number, remember that 44,000 people die every six months in the US due to excessive alcohol consumption. CDC Fact Sheet on Alcohol.