India Leads in Facebook Restrictions

India leads in Facebook restrictions as the social media giant has restricted access to nearly 5,000 pieces of information on its website in India as per government requests in the first six months of 2014, the highest for any country.

India is the largest user base for Facebook outside the US with over 100 million users.

Similar steps were taken in Turkey (1,893) and Pakistan (1,773) during the said period, Facebook said in its Government Requests Report.

“We restricted access in India to a number of pieces of content reported primarily by law enforcement officials and the India Computer Emergency Response Team under local laws prohibiting criticism of a religion or the state,” Facebook said in the report.

India is also ranked second, just behind the US, in terms of government requests for access to users and accounts.

During January-June 2014, Facebook said it had received 4,559 requests for information on 5,958 users and accounts. Of this, 50.87 per cent of requests saw some data being produced.

Compared to the July-December 2013 period, the number of requests has gone up over 26 per cent, while it is higher by 40 per cent compared to the same period last year.

Facebook said it received 15,433 total requests for 23,667 users and accounts and 80.15 per cent of requests saw some data being produced.During the same time, the amount of content restricted because of local laws increased about 19 per cent.