India requested information of 4,144 Facebook users this year

As Facebook today revealed the number of requests for information it has received from different governments, it has emerged that India ranks second in terms of requests for the first half of 2013.

The Indian government, with a total of 3,245 requests in all, ranked second only behind the US government that made between 11,000 and 12,000 requests. Out of these requests sent to Facebook, India requested access to information of about 4,144 users in the first half of this year. Facebook has revealed that it complied with about 40 percent of the Indian government’s requests.

India ranks second in the list of countries requesting data (Image credit: Reuters)

These figures have emerged as part of Facebook’s first ever Global Governments Requests Report released today. The social networking giant believes that it is essential for users to know the requests being made by the government. The website has a stringent process in place as far as granting access to user data is concerned. If a government has requested data, it has to meet a “very high legal bar” with each individual request in order to make Facebook give up its fiercely protective stance over private data.

India has traditionally been one of the top countries to request access to data from web companies. Earlier this year, Google’s Transparency Report had reveled that the number of requests received from the Indian government rose form 2,319 from first half of 2012 to 2,431 in the next half.

It has become all the more essential for websites like Facebook to maintain transparency over government requests ever since the US government’s snooping around under the PRISM programme has been let out in the open. Facebook revealed that 74 countries in all requested information on 37, 954 users in the first half of this year. The company said it will be releasing transparency data regarding government requests regularly to keep users in the loop on behind-the-scenes activities.