Amidst all the doom and gloom, there is some good news. Although it may not amount to much. According to Facebook's latest transparency report the number of requests it received from the Indian government for censoring content is down big time in the first half of 2016. The report shows that from January 1 to June 31, Facebook restricted 2,034 pieces of content in India after receiving requests from the government bodies. This is significantly low compared to 14,971 pieces it had restricted in last six months of 2015.

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At the same time, however, the Indian government request for data continues to grow. It total, Indian government made 6,324 requests for Facebook data pertaining to 8,290 accounts. Facebook complied with 54 per cent of demands. In the last six months of 2015, the Indian government had made 5,561 such requests.

Facebook also said that globally government requests for user account data rose 27 per cent in the first half of 2016 compared to the second half of last year, with the US law enforcement agencies topping the list.

Government requests for account data globally rose to 59,229 from 46,710 and more than half contained a non-disclosure order that prohibited the social networking website from notifying users.

Requests for content restriction, the number of items restricted for violating local laws, decreased by 83 per cent from the second half of 2015, Facebook said in a blog post.

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The Paris attacks in November last year elevated the number of content restriction requests.

Facebook for the first time provided information about government requests to preserve relevant user account information. In India, the company is preserving data of 850 users for 90 days in response to 609 requests made by the Indian government.

In Total, Facebook received 38,675 preservation requests for 67,129 accounts.

Facebook has also said that it was now expanding its compliance on emergency requests outside the US. "We have expanded our reporting of emergency requests and disclosures to include countries outside the United States. In cases of emergency, Facebook may disclose information where we believe that the matter involves imminent risk of serious injury or death. In all of these cases, we require law enforcement to describe the emergency and explain how the requested disclosure might prevent harm. In this reporting period, we received 3,016 emergency requests for 4,192 accounts," said Chris Sonderby, deputy general counsel at Facebook.

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Out of these 3,016 emergency requests, 42 were made in India. Facebook said that it complied with 69 per cent of these requests.

(With inputs from Reuters)