We know that this year Government requests to remove content has skyrocketed so far in 2012. Thanks to Google’s more detailed transparency reports that were rolled out earlier this year, we can also see the most egregious countries along with request data. Turkey supplied 501 requests so far in 2012, up 1,013% from the previous reporting period.
The most surprising morels of information was that Google is now restricting Turkish users from accessing 63% of YouTube videos. The removal requests were all submitted on “alleged criticism of Atatürk, the government or national identity and values.”
Google also stated that a Turkish law enforcement agency requested the removal of 242 YouTube videos for referencing a specific individual — none of which were removed. Additionally, no content was removed from Web Search, Blogger blogs, or on Google Documents .
A detailed breakdown of Turkey’s removal requests can be seen on the official Google page.
Comments