Google's Censorship Juggle

Google received more than 1,000 requests from governments around the world in the second half of last year to take down items such as YouTube videos and search listings, and it complied with them more than half the time.

Google is publishing the data June 18 in its Global Transparency Report, a biannual study the search giant started in 2010. The report makes public the number, location and type of content-removal requests Google receives from various governments. The company said it received 461 court orders demanding the removal of 6,989 items in the second half. Google consented to 68% of those requests. The company received 546 informal requests, such as phone calls from police officials, requesting the removal of 4,925 items. It complied with 43% of them. In total, Google received 1,007 requests and complied with roughly 54% of them. The statistics don't include countries such as China and Iran that block Google content directly without submitting removal requests to the company.