Budapest Post

Cum Deo pro Patria et Libertate
Budapest, Europe and world news

Twitter Says World Governments Broke Records in Demanding Content Removal in 2021

Twitter Says World Governments Broke Records in Demanding Content Removal in 2021

Twitter, like other Big Tech social networks, has in recent years been subjected to criticism and legislative pressure in an ever-increasing number of countries. Twitter has also been criticized in the US for alleged political censorship, such as suspending the account of President Trump a year ago.

Government demands to have content taken down from Twitter reached an all-time high in the first half of 2021, the social media giant revealed on Tuesday.

In a blog post by the network's Transparency Center, Twitter noted that between January 1 and June 30, governments issued 43,387 legal demands for content to be removed from 196,878 accounts, the highest number since the company started to release transparency reports in 2012.

"We’re facing unprecedented challenges as governments around the world increasingly attempt to intervene and remove content," the company's vice president of global public policy and philanthropy Sinéad McSweeney is quoted as saying. "This threat to privacy and freedom of expression is a deeply worrying trend that requires our full attention."

Interestingly enough, the top five countries making such requests were Japan, Russia, Turkey, India, and South Korea, which accounted for 95% of all demands for removal globally. And in response to 54% of the requests, the platform "withheld" access to content or asked accounts to remove posts.

According to the report, with 3,026 requests, the US became the single greatest source of government information requests, accounting for 24% of the total number the company received during the most recent reporting period. These demands accounted for 27% of all identified accounts from across the world, and Twitter complied with 68% of these US information requests, in whole or in part.

Twitter underscored that it partially disclosed or did not share information in response to 64% of global government information requests, a drop of 9% from the previous reporting period.

According to Twitter's transparency report, government demands to preserve account information decreased by 4% from the previous reporting period, which was the last six months of 2020. The US received 57% of the petitions for preservation.

Apart from government requests, Twitter compelled account holders to delete 4.7 million Tweets that violated its rules. The social networking giant stated that prior to removal, 68% of the Tweets had fewer than 100 impressions, with another 24% obtaining between 100 and 1,000 impressions.

Twitter emphasized that during that time period, impressions on these removed Tweets accounted for less than 0.1% of all impressions for all Tweets.

Moreover, Twitter suspended 44,974 unique accounts for promoting terrorism and violent organizations in the first half of 2021, claiming that 93% of those accounts were detected and removed proactively. In general, however, the number of violating accounts on Twitter continues to decline, the report noted, which is attributed to the changing behavior of these actors combined with continuing advancements in the company's defenses in this area.

AI Disclaimer: An advanced artificial intelligence (AI) system generated the content of this page on its own. This innovative technology conducts extensive research from a variety of reliable sources, performs rigorous fact-checking and verification, cleans up and balances biased or manipulated content, and presents a minimal factual summary that is just enough yet essential for you to function as an informed and educated citizen. Please keep in mind, however, that this system is an evolving technology, and as a result, the article may contain accidental inaccuracies or errors. We urge you to help us improve our site by reporting any inaccuracies you find using the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of this page. Your helpful feedback helps us improve our system and deliver more precise content. When you find an article of interest here, please look for the full and extensive coverage of this topic in traditional news sources, as they are written by professional journalists that we try to support, not replace. We appreciate your understanding and assistance.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Elon Musk Unveils Grokipedia: An AI-Driven Alternative to Wikipedia
Russia’s President Putin Declares Burevestnik Nuclear Cruise Missile Ready for Deployment
US Administration Under President Donald Trump Reportedly Lifts Ban on Ukraine’s Use of Storm Shadow Missiles Against Russia
White House Announces No Imminent Summit Between Trump and Putin
China Presses Netherlands to “properly” Resolve the Nexperia Seizure as Supply Chain Risks Grow
Merz Attacks Migrants, Sparks Uproar, and Refuses to Apologize: “Ask Your Daughters”
Apple Challenges EU Digital Markets Act Crackdown in Landmark Court Battle
Shouting Match at the White House: 'Trump Cursed, Threw Maps, and Told Zelensky – "Putin Will Destroy You"'
‘No Kings’ Protests Inflate Numbers — But History Shows Nations Collapse Without Strong Executive Power
"The Tsunami Is Coming, and It’s Massive": The World’s Richest Man Unveils a New AI Vision
EU Moves to Use Frozen Russian Assets to Buy U.S. Weapons for Ukraine
Europe Emerges as the Biggest Casualty in U.S.-China Rare Earth Rivalry
“Firepower” Promised for Ukraine as NATO Ministers Meet — But U.S. Tomahawks Remain Undecided
The Sydney Sweeney and Jeans Storm: “The Outcome Surpassed Our Wildest Dreams”
Dutch Government Seizes Chipmaker After U.S. Presses for Removal of Chinese CEO
AI and Cybersecurity at Forefront as GITEX Global 2025 Kicks Off in Dubai
Ex-Microsoft Engineer Confirms Famous Windows XP Key Was Leaked Corporate License, Not a Hack
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
Wave of Complaints Against Apple Over iPhone 17 Pro’s Scratch Sensitivity
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Trump Says Ukraine Can Fully Restore Borders with NATO Backing
Europe Signals Stronger Support for Taiwan at Major Taipei Defence Show
Germany Weighs Excluding France from Key European Fighter Jet Programme
Cyberattack Disrupts Check-in and Boarding Systems at Major European Airports
Björn Borg Breaks Silence: Memoir Reveals Addiction, Shame and Cancer Battle
When Extremism Hijacks Idealism: How the Baader-Meinhof Gang Emerged and Fell
JWST Data Brings TRAPPIST-1e Closer to Earth-Like Habitability
Trump Orders $100,000 Fee on H-1B Visas and Launches ‘Gold Card’ Immigration Pathway
France’s Looming Budget Crisis and Political Fracture Raise Fears of Becoming Europe’s “Sick Man”
Three Russian MiG-31 Jets Breach Estonian Airspace in ‘Unprecedentedly Brazen’ NATO Incident
European manufacturers against ban on polluting cars: "The industry may collapse"
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
Christian Brueckner Released from German Prison after Serving Unrelated Sentence
×