Government Data Requests

Governments around the world request information about Yahoo users, usually in conjunction with criminal or civil investigations. We carefully scrutinize each request to make sure it complies with the law, and we push back on those requests that don’t satisfy our rigorous standards. When we disclose data, consistent with our Global Principles for Responding to Government Requests, we narrowly interpret the request and disclose only as much data as is necessary to comply with the request.

Country Some data disclosed Rejected No data found Total government data requests Total government specified accounts
Argentina 8 3 1 12 12
Australia 119 48 4 171 178
Austria 0 10 4 14 16
Belgium 0 6 2 8 9
Brazil 105 64 44 213 324
Canada 14 6 4 24 33
Colombia 0 1 0 1 1
Czech Republic 0 1 0 1 1
Estonia 0 1 0 1 1
Finland 0 1 1 2 2
France 287 168 98 553 636
Germany 542 800 394 1736 2513
Greece 0 12 2 14 14
Guatemala 1 1 0 2 3
Hong Kong 0 7 1 8 10
India 276 206 50 532 673
Ireland 33 2 3 38 44
Italy 24 51 38 113 151
Latvia 0 1 0 1 1
Lithuania 0 2 0 2 4
Malta 0 6 1 7 7
Mexico 6 1 3 10 11
Monaco 0 2 0 2 2
Netherlands 0 1 0 1 1
New Zealand 3 1 0 4 5
North Macedonia 0 1 0 1 1
Norway 0 1 1 2 2
Poland 0 6 3 9 17
Portugal 0 2 0 2 2
Romania 0 8 5 13 35
Singapore 53 25 8 86 94
Spain 49 98 51 198 214
Sweden 0 1 0 1 1
Switzerland 0 11 1 12 12
Taiwan 590 160 45 795 2171
Ukraine 0 1 0 1 1
United Kingdom 554 381 208 1143 1321
United States* 4,846 369 803 6,018 13,648
Global Total 7,510 2,466 1,775 11,751 22,171

*These numbers do not include U.S. national security requests reported in more detail on the U.S.-specific page. 

Emergency requests

In addition to Government Data Requests, Yahoo sometimes receives requests from governments seeking information in emergency situations (i.e., the disclosure of information is sought to save a life or prevent serious physical harm). The chart below represents the number of such requests that Yahoo received globally during the reporting period, the number of accounts specified in those requests, and the percentage of the requests that resulted in the disclosure of some information.

Country Total requests Total government specified accounts Percentage of requests resulting in disclosure of user data
Australia N/A
Austria 2 2 50%
Canada 9 9 78%
Colombia 1 1 0%
France 2 2 100%
Germany 2 2 0%
Greece 1 1 0%
India 1 1 100%
Ireland 1 1 100%
Israel 1 1 100%
Lithuania 2 2 50%
Netherlands 1 1 100%
Norway 2 2 0%
Romania 3 3 33%
Serbia 1 1 100%
Spain 1 1 100%
Sweden 1 1 100%
Switzerland 5 5 60%
United Kingdom 37 42 73%
United States 111 128 70%
Global Total 184 206

Preservation requests

Government agencies sometimes ask Yahoo to temporarily preserve account information pertaining to an investigation while they work to obtain valid legal process. When we receive a preservation request issued in accordance with applicable law, we will temporarily preserve the relevant user data, to the extent it is available. We will not disclose information until the government agency has presented us with valid legal process. The chart below shows the number of preservation requests we received within this reporting period, as well as the number of accounts specified in those requests. If information we preserved is subsequently sought by the government agency with legal process, the request (and our response) will be reflected as Government Data Request in the reporting period during which the request was made.

Country Total preservation requests Total government specified accounts
Argentina 1 1
Australia 3 4
Austria 1 1
Brazil 18 32
Canada 11 12
Costa Rica 7 7
Denmark 3 3
Ecuador 1 1
Germany 25 33
Greece 2 4
Guatemala 1 1
India 1 1
Ireland 54 58
Latvia 1 1
Netherlands 1 1
Norway 1 2
Romania 6 21
Spain 4 6
United Kingdom 9 20
United States 2,370 5,527
Global Total 2,520 5,736

Download Data for this Reporting Period: XLS