Facebook disclosed that it received between 9,000 and 10,000 requests for user data from U.S. government entities in the last half of 2012.

"These requests run the gamut -- from things like a local sheriff trying to find a missing child, to a federal marshal tracking a fugitive, to a police department investigating an assault, to a national security official investigating a terrorist threat," Ted Ullyot, Facebook's general counsel, said in a post Friday night.

The disclosure comes amid a firestorm over revelations that it was among companies that turned over user data to the National Security Agency's web surveillance program.