Bahrain26 October 20152 min read

Bahrain 'does not spy on its Twitter users'

By Begena George Pradeep/ DTNN. Bahrain has made no requests for account information of Twitter users, it has been learnt. The online social networking service receives regular worldwide government requests for account information, typically in connection with criminal investigations. However Bahrain has made n

Editorial Team Legacy

Published 26 October 2015, 8:00 · Updated 22:10

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Bahrain 'does not spy on its Twitter users'

Bahrain has made no requests for account information of Twitter users, it has been learnt.

The online social networking service receives regular worldwide government requests for account information, typically in connection with criminal investigations. However Bahrain has made no such requests, confirms Twitter.

Bahrain has always been accused by the international media of bias and being restrictive to freedom of speech. The GCC country is also regularly battered by the opposition in social media networks who blames the country of prosecuting them for ‘voicing out’. However the list proves otherwise.

Twitter’s latest Transparency Report includes the number of government requests received for account information, as well as the percentage of requests complied with in whole or in part. They also mark countries in which they have received emergency disclosure requests only with an asterisk. During the latest reporting period, Twitter has received inquiries from four new countries - Cyprus, Dominican Republic, Poland, and Serbia - bringing the total to 62 countries since the inception of the report.

The country which has made the most number of account information requests to Twitter this year is the US with 2,436, followed by Japan with 425, Turkey with 412 and then the UK with 299. Ironically, the US and UK are one of the first countries to falsely criticise Bahrain for targeting people who use derogatory remarks against Bahrain and its leadership. “We’ve received 52 per cent more requests for account information affecting 78pc more account holders during the first half of 2015 than in the previous reporting period,” says Twitter. “This is the largest increase in requests and affected accounts between reporting periods since we began publishing the Transparency Report in 2012.

“The United States continues to make the majority of requests for account information, comprising 56pc of all requests received. “Japan, ever present in the list of top requesters, surpassed Turkey as our second largest requester by just two per cent. The United Kingdom also remains a top requester, comprising 7pc of total requests,” the report read.

Reported by: Begena George Pradeep/ DTNN

Bahrain 'does not spy on its Twitter users'

Editorial Team Legacy

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