Marked increase in govt's efforts to censor critical, blasphemous content on Facebook

Facebook data shows Pakistan government's requests for user data rises by 240.3%

The government has stepped up its efforts to censor content blasphemous or critical of the state on social media site Facebook, with a 968% increase in the number of pieces to which access was restricted in the first six months of 2014 in comparison to similar requests made in the second half of 2013, data released by the social media network on Tuesday showed.

According to Facebook Inc’s bi-annual Government Requests Report, data from January to June 2014 saw the social media network restrict access to 1,773 pieces of content which the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) and the Ministry of Information Technology (MoIT) had reported, mostly under local laws which prohibit blasphemy and criticism of the state.

This number is in stark contrast to the 166 pieces of content to which access was restricted by the social media network between in the second half of 2013. Facebook has not provided any data on content to which access was restricted to between January-June 2013, or earlier.

This, however, is not the sum of the government’s attempts at greater oversight on the Internet.

According to Facebook’s data, the government has increasingly started making inquiries for data on specific users and accounts on Facebook, noting a 240.3% increase for requests made in the first half of 2014 over the corresponding period last year.

In the first six months of 2013, the government had made a total of 35 requests for information on 47 users or accounts. Of these requests, Facebook said some data was produced for 77% of those requests.

In contrast, the government sent in 116 requests for 160 users or accounts between January and June of 2014. Of these, Facebook only provided data for only 35.34% of cases.

Interestingly, this is a slight decline in the number of requests made by the government between July-December 2013 when the government had sought data for 163 users or accounts in 126 requests. Of these, some data was produced for 47.62% of cases.

Facebook notes that they respond to valid government requests relating to criminal cases, a vast majority of which relate to criminal cases, such as robberies or kidnappings. While in many of these instances the government may request basic subscriber information, such as name and length of service, other requests may also seek IP address logs or actual account content.

However, the social media network adds that each and every request that they receive is checked for legal sufficiency. Some which are overly broad or vague are either rejected or sent back seeking greater specificity.

Requests by govts worldwide jump by a quarter

Facebook Inc said requests by governments for user information rose by about a quarter in the first half of 2014 over the second half of last year.

In the first six months of 2014, governments around the world made 34,946 requests for data. During the same time, the amount of content restricted because of local laws increased about 19 per cent.

"We're aggressively pursuing an appeal to a higher court to invalidate these sweeping warrants and to force the government to return the data it has seized," the company said in a company blog post on Tuesday.

Google Inc reported in September a 15 per cent sequential increase in the number of requests in the first half of this year, and a 150 per cent rise in the last five years, from governments around the world to reveal user information in criminal investigations.

Additional information from Reuters