Google reports 68% jump in government takedown requests

Google published an update to its semi-annual Transparency Report, and the latest figures show an ongoing increase in the efforts of governments around the world to remove content from services like Google Play and YouTube. The new figures, which Google announced in a blog post, show that governments made 3,846 takedown requests in the first half of 2013, which is up from 2,285 requests in the previous six month period -- a 68 percent increase.

Overall, the requests targeted 24,737 pieces of content. In the case of requests to remove content critical of a government, Google says it complied in only one third of the cases, but did not say how many times it refused overall. The company refers to the requests as “censorship” and cited: “[A] worrying upward trend in the number of government requests, and underscores the importance of transparency around the processes governing such requests.” The increase in this report appears tied to a spike in requests from Turkey, which demanded the most takedowns of any country (1,673). The second biggest number came from the United States (545), which was followed by Brazil, Russia and India.