More and more governments around the world are either asking Google to remove content - or tell them who its users are.

Google's transparency report is the guide to how the governments of the world are interacting with the web giant in 2012. And it's an alarming picture.

The report covers two types of requests:

• Government requests to remove content from Google

• Government requests from around the world to hand over user data

This is how those numbers break down.

The latest report, which covers up to the end of last year, shows that in 2012 there were 21,389 inquiries from governments around the world. Those requests were for information about 33,634 accounts - these are users' accounts.

The number of government requests to remove content from Google's services was largely flat from 2009 to 2011. But the latest data shows that the huge spike witnessed in the first half of 2012 (when the number of government requests were up by 72%), continued in the 6 months that followed, albeit slightly slower (requests were up 26%). There were 2,285 requests from government officials around the world to remove 24,179 pieces of content.

31% of governments claimed that their request was motivated by a belief that the content resulted in 'defamation', while 5% cited 'privacy and security'. A few controversial items on Google attracted a significant amount of government concern in the last half of 2012. For example, the movie "Innocence of Muslims" resulted in inquiries from 20 countries and removal requests from 17. The film was restricted in a further 8 countries and temporarily restricted in 2 due to 'difficult circumstances'. You can find out where it caused concern in the table below.

Innocence of Muslims Government requests to Google Request Type Governments making request to Google Remove Bangladesh, Brazil, Brunei, Djibouti, India, Indonesia, Iran, Jordan, Lebanon, Maldives, Malaysia, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates Query about community guidelines Australia, Egypt, and the United States Restricted Indonesia, India, Jordan, Malaysia, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore and Turkey Temporarily Restricted Egypt and Libya

Although China's 'Great Firewall' attracts much attention, Google products have been inaccessible to the population of several countries. In Morocco Google Earth isn't available while in Turkey Google's blogger service isn't accessible. YouTube is not available in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Iran or Pakistan. Perhaps most worryingly, all Google products have been suspended in Syria since December 2012.

In the UK, content removals were up by 6% and included a request from what must be a local police force to "remove a YouTube video that allegedly defamed them by artificially portraying a member of the agency in a racist uniform" and another "that was critical of police practices". Google turned both requests down.

In another case, an MP requested that Google "remove a blog post for suggesting that he advised businesses while serving in government". The company did not feel that it was able to adjudicate on this and so, with the MPs consent, passed the complain to the blogger. The content subsequently disappeared though Google claims it did not remove it.

This is how UK requests look, largely dominated by YouTube. The biggest change can be seen in requests relating to Google AdWords, just 45 in the second half of 2012, down from 2,865. This was largely because of the UK's Office of Fair Trading requesting the removal of 93,360 fraudulent Google Adwords linked to scams over the period.

In the US it looks a little different:

Content removal requests were up by 18% in the US in July to December 2012 compared to the previous 6 months. Google received court orders from several different individuals. In some cases, a single court order resulted in a large response - for example they "removed 771 items from Google Groups relating to a case of continuous defamation against a man and his family" and "removed 119 search results that linked to websites allegedly hosting trademark infringing material".

The full data is below for you to download. What can you do with it?

Data summary

Government removals requests

Government requests from around the world to hand over user data Combined 2009-2012. Country Removal requests % complied with Users/accounts specified Argentina 227 89 857 Armenia 0 0 Australia 92 47 1539 Austria 14 79 305 Azerbaijan 2 0 2 Bangladesh 3 0 11 Belgium 47 68 68 Bolivia 1 100 1 Bosnia and Herzegovina 1 0 1 Brazil 2258 54 37456 Brunei 1 0 1 Cambodia 0 0 Canada 96 57 697 Chile 4 50 4 China 4 50 122 Colombia 7 29 7 Cook Islands 4 100 13 Croatia 2 50 3 Cyprus 5 60 6 Czech Republic 4 50 12 Denmark 5 40 23 Djibouti 1 0 1 Dominican Republic 1 0 1 Egypt 1 0 1 Estonia 0 0 Finland 0 0 France 220 75 2072 Germany 1136 86 10474 Greece 11 45 30 Hong Kong 2 50 374 Hungary 5 20 33 India 652 44 4560 Indonesia 8 50 56 Iran 1 0 4 Ireland 6 33 13 Israel 25 40 118 Italy 292 84 2348 Japan 65 43 300 Jordan 5 40 234 Kazakhstan 5 80 42 Kenya 1 0 1 Lebanon 3 0 3 Libya 219 57 1385 Liechtenstein 0 0 Lithuania 1 0 6 Luxembourg 1 100 1 Macedonia [FYROM] 4 0 4 Madagascar 2 50 2 Malaysia 18 72 588 Maldives 1 0 1 Malta 7 14 24 Mauritius 2 0 2 Mexico 20 35 30 Monaco 2 50 10 Nepal 1 100 4 Netherlands 28 86 282 New Zealand 20 55 77 Norway 8 75 1845 Pakistan 11 18 36 Palestinian Territories 1 0 5 Panama 2 50 2 Peru 8 0 18 Philippines 4 0 8 Poland 16 38 105 Portugal 16 69 31 Puerto Rico 0 0 Russia 129 75 309 Saudi Arabia 6 67 354 Sierra Leone 1 0 60 Singapore 6 33 14 Slovakia 1 100 2 Slovenia 5 0 9 Solomon Islands 0 0 South Africa 6 67 19 South Korea 592 88 49833 Spain 344 30 873 Sri Lanka 1 100 1 Sweden 5 100 7 Switzerland 36 92 215 Taiwan 112 9 186 Thailand 9 100 431 Timor-Leste 1 0 1 Trinidad and Tobago 1 0 10 Turkey 753 50 12665 Ukraine 3 67 9 United Arab Emirates 4 25 63 United Kingdom 459 65 98409 United States 1178 56 17171 Venezuela 1 100 1 Vietnam 1 0 1 Grand Total 9263 61 246902

Government requests to remove content from Google Combined 2009-2012 Country Product Reason Court Orders Executive, Police, etc. Items Requested To Be Removed Argentina Blogger Defamation 16 4 31 Hate Speech 0 1 3 National Security 1 0 1 Privacy and Security 5 0 5 Blogger Total 22 5 40 Google AdSense Hate Speech 2 0 3 Google AdSense Total 2 0 3 Google AdWords Defamation 0 1 4 Google AdWords Total 0 1 4 Google Images Privacy and Security 3 0 14 Google Images Total 3 0 14 Picasa Web Albums Privacy and Security 1 0 16 Picasa Web Albums Total 1 0 16 Web Search Defamation 89 3 300 Hate Speech 3 0 100 National Security 1 0 7 Other 3 1 12 Privacy and Security 21 2 250 Web Search Total 117 6 669 Web Search: Autocomplete Defamation 2 1 9 Hate Speech 2 0 6 Web Search: Autocomplete Total 4 1 15 YouTube Adult Content 0 2 2 Government Criticism 0 1 1 Hate Speech 0 1 2 National Security 1 0 1 Privacy and Security 2 4 15 YouTube Total 3 8 21 Argentina Total 152 21 782 Australia Blogger Defamation 4 0 10 Blogger Total 4 0 10 Google Earth, Google Maps, and Panoramio Defamation 0 1 1 Google Earth, Google Maps, and Panoramio Total 0 1 1 Google Sites Defamation 0 1 4 Google Sites Total 0 1 4 Google+ Local Defamation 0 1 1 Other 0 1 1 Google+ Local Total 0 2 2 Street View Privacy and Security 0 1 1 Street View Total 0 1 1 Web Search Bullying/Harassment 0 1 1 Copyright 2 0 27 Defamation 3 2 7 Privacy and Security 7 1 684 Web Search Total 12 4 719 Web Search: Related results Bullying/Harassment 2 0 3 Web Search: Related results Total 2 0 3 YouTube Adult Content 0 2 2 Copyright 1 2 3 Defamation 0 4 5 Government Criticism 0 1 1 Hate Speech 0 2 3 Impersonation 0 1 1 National Security 0 2 2 Other 0 6 7 Privacy and Security 0 8 9 Religious Offense 0 1 1 Trademark 0 2 124 Violence 0 2 2 YouTube Total 1 33 160 Australia Total 19 42 900 Austria Web Search Defamation 9 1 159 Web Search Total 9 1 159 YouTube Defamation 1 0 2 Privacy and Security 0 1 1 YouTube Total 1 1 3 Austria Total 10 2 162 Azerbaijan Panoramio Hate Speech 0 1 1 Panoramio Total 0 1 1 Web Search Defamation 1 0 1 Web Search Total 1 0 1 Azerbaijan Total 1 1 2 Bangladesh YouTube Hate Speech 0 1 1 Religious Offense 0 2 10 YouTube Total 0 3 11 Bangladesh Total 0 3 11 Belgium Blogger Copyright 0 1 1 Defamation 2 1 3 Impersonation 0 1 1 Other 1 0 4 Blogger Total 3 3 9 Google Images Privacy and Security 0 1 1 Google Images Total 0 1 1 Google+ Impersonation 0 1 1 Google+ Total 0 1 1 YouTube Adult Content 0 17 22 Defamation 2 1 10 National Security 0 1 1 Other 0 1 1 Privacy and Security 0 8 14 Violence 0 9 9 YouTube Total 2 37 57 Belgium Total 5 42 68 Bolivia YouTube Defamation 1 0 1 YouTube Total 1 0 1 Bolivia Total 1 0 1 Bosnia and Herzegovina Blogger Defamation 1 0 1 Blogger Total 1 0 1 Bosnia and Herzegovina Total 1 0 1 Brazil Blogger Adult Content 2 1 4 Copyright 6 0 10 Defamation 124 9 406 Electoral Law 69 0 326 Government Criticism 1 4 16 Impersonation 5 2 12 National Security 0 3 3 Other 21 4 215 Privacy and Security 9 2 38 Reason Unspecified 4 6 17 Trademark 2 0 3 Violence 1 0 2 Blogger Total 244 31 1052 Gmail Defamation 2 0 2 Electoral Law 2 0 2 Impersonation 3 0 3 Other 2 0 3 Privacy and Security 1 1 2 Reason Unspecified 1 0 1 Gmail Total 11 1 13 Google AdWords Privacy and Security 0 1 4 Google AdWords Total 0 1 4 Google Code Privacy and Security 2 0 6 Google Code Total 2 0 6 Google Docs Privacy and Security 0 1 5 Google Docs Total 0 1 5 Google Earth, Google Maps, and Panoramio Defamation 1 0 1 Privacy and Security 0 1 1 Google Earth, Google Maps, and Panoramio Total 1 1 2 Google Groups Defamation 1 0 1 Google Groups Total 1 0 1 Google Images Defamation 4 1 10 Privacy and Security 1 0 17 Google Images Total 5 1 27 Google Places Impersonation 2 0 8 Google Places Total 2 0 8 Google Profiles Impersonation 1 0 1 Google Profiles Total 1 0 1 Google Sites Privacy and Security 1 0 1 Google Sites Total 1 0 1 Google Videos Privacy and Security 1 0 1 Google Videos Total 1 0 1 Google+ Defamation 2 0 2 Impersonation 2 0 2 Privacy and Security 1 0 1 Google+ Total 5 0 5 Google+ Local Defamation 1 0 2 Privacy and Security 1 0 1 Google+ Local Total 2 0 3 orkut Adult Content 1 1 10 Copyright 3 0 15 Defamation 99 134 637 Electoral Law 4 0 8 Government Criticism 1 0 1 Hate Speech 3 12 66 Impersonation 99 27 1054 Other 23 79 282 Privacy and Security 6 6 15 Reason Unspecified 4 7 13 Religious Offense 0 2 8 Violence 0 3 16 orkut Total 243 271 2125 Picasa Web Albums Copyright 4 0 11581 Defamation 3 0 11 Other 0 1 1 Privacy and Security 4 0 26 Reason Unspecified 1 0 1 Picasa Web Albums Total 12 1 11620 Street View Privacy and Security 3 0 3 Street View Total 3 0 3

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