Twitter said yesterday that worldwide requests from governments about its users rose nearly 20 per cent in second half of 2012 as it sought to raise awareness about “invasive” actions.

The popular messaging platform said information requests in the July-December period numbered 1,009, up from 849 in the prior six months.

In launching a revamped “transparency report” modelled after one by Google, Twitter said it hopes the data can be useful to those seeking to keep an open Internet.

“We believe the open exchange of information can have a positive global impact,” Twitter legal policy manager Jeremy Kessel said in a blog post marking what activists have dubbed Data Privacy Day.

“To that end, it is vital for us (and other Internet services) to be transparent about government requests for user information and government requests to withhold content from the Internet; these growing inquiries can have a serious chilling effect on free expression – and real privacy implications.”

Kessel said Twitter seeks “to raise public awareness about these invasive requests” and “to enable policy makers to make more informed decisions.”

“All of our actions are in the interest of an open and safe Internet,” he said.

The information requests cited by Twitter sought user account information, “typically in connection with criminal investigations or cases,” the company said.

Twitter said the overwhelming majority of information requests, 815 of the total, came from the United States. The company complied with at least part of the request in 57 per cent of cases worldwide and 69 per cent of US cases.

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