Governments around the world are becoming more aggressive in asking Google to remove or censor content from its services, the web search giant said in a Transparency Report issued on Thursday.
Google said the number of requests for removal of content increased 68 per cent from January to June, compared with the last six months of 2012. Google received 3,846 requests to remove 24,737 pieces of content, the report said.
Of particular note according to Google was a sharp increase of requests from Turkey, which saw a 10-fold increase to 1,673. Requests from Russia doubled to 257, while the United States contributed 545 requests, a 70 per cent increase over the previous period. Court orders arising from defamation were the biggest reason for takedown requests from the United States.