Government Data Requests Fall at Yahoo But Rise at Google

Yahoo saw a significant drop in the number of government requests for data about its users in the second half of 2013, compared with the first half, according to the company’s semiannual transparency report. Google, on the other hand, saw a small increase in data requests over the same period.

Yahoo said it had received 21,425 requests from 17 countries for information on 32,493 accounts from July 1 to Dec. 31, 2013, with the United States accounting for about one-third of them. Google said it had received 27,477 government requests for user data in the second half of 2013, covering 42,648 accounts, with more than one-third of the requests coming from the United States. In the previous six months, the company received 25,879 requests covering 42,500 accounts. Google’s figures excluded national security and FISA requests in both periods.