2016: Jul 1 – Dec 31

CountryCourt OrdersRequests from government agencies or law enforcementPercentage of requests where content was removedNumber of sites specified
Australia020%2
Azerbaijan02100%*2
Brazil030%3
Colombia030%7
France01436%14
Georgia01100%1
Germany070%7
India1140%17
Israel0120%21
Kazakhstan0425%8
Malta010%1
Portugal010%1
Russia016887%168
Taiwan020%2
Turkey92068%*139
United States010%1
TOTAL9323566%394
*During the previous reporting period, we changed our approach for takedown demands from Azerbaijan and Turkey. We now respond to them as we do the demands from Russia, which is why the percentage of requests where some or all content was removed has increased.

Recent Examples

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

Colombia

  • The national police asked us to suspend six sites for making “insulting and dishonorable comments against political figures in Colombia and imputing unfounded charges to people who generate business at the national level.”

India

  • Law enforcement demanded that we delete a site for posting allegedly false allegations about someone.
  • Law enforcement demanded the removal of a photo that depicted Lord Shiva in Mecca, which “hurt the beliefs and feelings of the community.”

Russia

  • We received 168 orders from the Federal Service for Supervision in the Sphere of Telecom, Information Technologies and Mass Communications (Roskomnadzor) for content that was deemed to be in violation of Russian Federal Law 139.

Taiwan

  • Law enforcement requested that we remove a site for containing allegedly defamatory material.

Turkey

  • We received one court order for which the complainant was President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and five court orders for which the complainant was Necmeddin Bilal Erdogan, President Erdogan’s son.