Google received the most government requests for user data it has received in any six-month period, according to the company’s latest transparency report. The requests were made in the second half of 2016.
Tech companies came under pressure after the election to take a stand against building a database, and Google, Twitter and others all said they would not contribute to such an effort.
Google reported 45,500 government requests for user data worldwide in the second half of 2016, up about 600 requests from the first half of 2016. The company said it received only about 12,000 requests in the second half of 2009.
As requests have increased, Google reports the percentage of requests in which the company produces data has decreased. The company reported that in the second half of 2010 it produced data in response to 76 percent of requests. In the second half of 2016, that went down to 60 percent.
