Twice a year, Google releases a report called the Transparency report, which shows how often Google receives requests from authorities that want to censor information. According to the latest report, the number of requests from US authorities increased by 70 percent in the first half of the year.
Many of the requests concerned requests from various US authorities that want to remove videos from YouTube that contain police brutality, writes the Guardian.
For the first time, Google’s report also publishes how many users authorities have demanded information about. Between January and June, authorities from 25 countries demanded information on 25,440 users on Google.
In Sweden, no authorities have requested that any information be removed from any of Google’s services. Swedish authorities have also not requested any information about individual users during the mentioned period.
Brazil was the country with the highest number of requests, followed by Germany, the United States and South Korea.