Twitter Reports a Jump in Government Removal Requests in Latest Transparency Report

A new article on Social Media Today reports that Twitter has published its latest transparency and enforcement update, which outlines all of the accounts and violations it took action on during the period between January 1st and June 30th, 2021, highlighting key trends and shifts in platform usage, and misuse, as it looks to improve the user experience, in alignment with its freedom of speech ethos.



Twitter became a key focus of Russian authorities last year, with the platform facing a possible ban at one stage for refusing to comply with requests from the Kremlin to remove content. Twitter eventually did comply with the order, after Russian authorities slowed down the service, but the situation remains tenuous, as Twitter grapples with its principles of facilitating free speech over more restrictive rules in some regions.

Indian authorities have also sought to censor elements of the app, which Twitter has also balked at, leading to conflicts in that region as well, while Japanese officials have also sought removals related to political conflicts. Each conflict sees Twitter's share price drop as a result, and with the app becoming a bigger tool for information sharing and public debate, this will continue to be a source of concern in many respects.

• Twitter also forced account holders to remove 4.7 million Tweets that violated the Twitter Rules in the period, also a record amount.
• Twitter also says that it permanently suspended 453,754 unique accounts for violations of its child sexual exploitation policy, with 89% of them being proactively identified through industry hash sharing.
• Twitter also suspended 44,974 unique accounts for the promotion of terrorism and violent organizations.
• Twitter additionally reports that the US became the single largest source of government information requests in the period, with 3,026 requests.