2019: Jul 1 – Dec 31

CountryCourt OrdersRequests from government agencies or law enforcementNumber of sites specifiedPercentage of requests where content was removed due to a violation of our policies
Percentage of requests where content was removed solely in response to the demand
Australia1110%0%
Bermuda0110%0%
France022100%0%
Germany14350%0%
India0102410%0%
Italy0422100%0%
Malaysia01220%0%
Pakistan0810513%63%
 Republic of Ireland0120%0%
Russia01627417%48%
Spain0220%0%
Sweden033100%0%
Turkey27273844%52%
United Kingdom02350%0%
United States02250%0%
Total2920228523%42%

For demands that come from Pakistan, Russia, and Turkey, we geoblock the specific content or site(s) at issue, so that WordPress.com remains otherwise accessible in the country. You can read a bit more about our approach to those kinds of takedown demands here.

Recent Examples

Here are a few recent examples of takedown demands that we received:

Malaysia

  • A government office in Malaysia demanded we takedown a site for defaming an ATM machine service provider after a negative review was published.

Sweden

  • A police station in Sweden helped us to discover an illegal narcotics-sale site, which was immediately suspended.

Pakistan

  • The Web Analysis Team of Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) requested, in one notice, the removal of more than 65 sites that were deemed “blasphemous.”