The information below represents the number of government requests and orders we received between July 1, 2013 – December 31, 2023 to remove content from WordPress.com sites. Sometimes, governments seek to remove posts on sites hosted by WordPress.com that they deem to be prohibited by local laws, such as posts that are defamatory or discuss illegal subject matter.
Select a time period from the menu for more detailed information.
Notes
- We receive frequent requests to remove content from non-governmental parties. Our transparency report doesn’t include these requests, and we don’t honor them unless they are accompanied by a valid, enforceable court order, or the content at issue otherwise violates the WordPress.com Terms of Service.
- We aim to promote freedom of expression around the world, and are also mindful of local laws that might impact that expression. When we receive an order to remove content, we may block it in only those jurisdictions where it violates local law (aka “geoblock”), so that it remains accessible in areas where it may not be illegal. For example, if we receive a takedown demand from Russia, we may comply with it by blocking the content at issue only from site visitors with IP addresses originating in Russia. More details about takedown demands are available here. We consider this geographical restriction, or geoblocking, of content to be content removal.
- “Percentage of requests where content was removed” does not include situations where content was removed for violating our policies or Terms of Service. We started reporting these separately in individual reporting periods, beginning in the report covering July 1, 2017 – December 31, 2017.
- “Percentage of requests where content was removed” does not mean that all of the specified content was removed. When at all possible, we attempt to narrow and clarify requests.
- Our policy is to notify users of any government takedown demands we receive unless we’re prohibited by law from doing so.
Transparency Report 