Twitter complying with content removal requests from Pakistan

NEW YORK: Twitter has started complying with official requests from Pakistan over selected content being removed from the social networking giant.

Twitter recently released its 16th biannual transparency report which comprises content information and removal requests made globally between July and December 2019 through official channels.

According to the report, Pakistan sent 13 content information requests between July and December 2019, of which 5 were emergency requests while the remaining were routine. The country also specified 18 accounts while sending information requests to Twitter. Of those, eight were emergency requests while the rest was routine.

Twitter, however, did not approve any of the information requests made by Pakistan. Since January 2012, the country has sent a total of 123 content information requests to Twitter in which it specified a total of 317 accounts. 

Moreover, Pakistan made 219 content removal requests to Twitter between July and December 2019. Twitter complied with 35 percent of the removal requests sent from the country in the second half of last year, marking the first time the platform has approved any of the content removal requests from Pakistan.

Since January 2012, Pakistan has made a total of 1100 content removal requests to Twitter, specifying 9700 accounts in the process, of which 688 were suspended temporarily and the rest permanently.