Social network says it got more than 8,000 inquiries in the first six months of this year

Dado Ruvic / Reuters

During a European Parliament civil liberties committee hearing in Brussels on Monday, legislators convened to learn more about ongoing U.S. digital dragnet operations, but were instead treated to news of their own governments’ snooping habits.

According to an article in the New York Times, Facebook representative Richard Allan told the assembled committee that the social media company had “received 8,500 requests from the European Union affecting 10,000 user accounts during the first six months of this year.” The requests from European governments equaled roughly half of the number of requests filed by U.S. officials.

[NYT]