Turkey’s government tops Google’s list for content removal requests with 501

ISTANBUL

In stark comparison to 2011, the Turkish government submitted 501 requests to Google for content removal in the first half of 2012, whereas it filed only 45 requests during the previous period, according to Google’s most recent Transparency Report.

According to the newly-released report, the total number of content removal requests issued to Google Services by governments around the world rose from 1,048 to 1,791 in the first period of this year.

Among Turkey’s long list of removal requests, critical content pertaining to official authorities and pornographic content are seen as the two main reasons behind the government's requests.

The United States follows Turkey on the list with 273 requests for removal, up from 187 in the last period.

After publishing their sixth report on the issue, Google’s Transparency Report alleges that “government surveillance is on the rise,” adding that government demands for user data have increased significantly since the first report was issued.

The World's largest search engine said, independent from the number of requests it receives, Google may choose not to respond positively to a government’s request for content removal.