Requests by governments for user data rose 24 per cent in first half of 2014, says Facebook

Requests by governments to Facebook for private user information rose by about a quarter in the first six months of 2014 over the second half of the previous year.

Between January and June 2014, governments around the world made 34,946 requests for data. During the same time, the amount of content restricted because of local laws increased about 19 per cent.

"We're aggressively pursuing an appeal to a higher court to invalidate these sweeping warrants and to force the government to return the data it has seized," the social network said in a company blog post on Tuesday.

Similarly, Google reported in September a 15 per cent increase in the number of requests in the first half of 2014, and a 150 per cent rise in the last five years, from governments around the world to reveal user information in criminal investigations.

(Reuters)