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 17 5 2 24 36
Australia 85 49 5 139 217
Austria 0 11 2 13 13
Belgium 0 6 3 9 11
Brazil 126 110 30 266 399
Bulgaria 0 1 0 1 2
Canada 19 14 2 35 106
Columbia 0 1 0 1 1
Costa Rica 0 1 0 1 1
Denmark 0 2 0 2 2
Ecuador 0 1 1 2 2
Estonia 0 1 1 2 3
France 174 124 66 364 408
Germany 386 713 283 1382 1548
Greece 0 12 2 14 17
Hong Kong 0 16 5 21 21
Hungary 0 3 1 4 5
India 276 169 64 509 675
Ireland 11 7 0 18 19
Italy 16 160 61 237 311
Latvia 0 1 1 2 3
Malta 0 7 0 7 7
Mexico 2 3 1 6 12
Netherlands 0 1 0 1 1
New Zealand 1 0 0 1 2
Poland 0 14 4 18 22
Portugal 0 3 0 3 3
Romania 0 16 6 22 34
Singapore 11 10 2 23 23
Spain 41 86 43 170 194
Sweden 0 2 0 2 2
Switzerland 0 20 2 22 37
Taiwan 437 150 40 627 1403
United Kingdom 400 380 137 917 1075
United States* 4,513 346 650 5,509 13,034
Global Total 6,515 2,445 1,414 10,374 19,649

*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 2 2 0%
Austria 1 1 0%
Bulgaria 1 1 0%
Canada 12 14 92%
Costa Rica 1 1 0%
Croatia 2 2 50%
Finland 1 1 0%
France 5 6 80%
Germany 14 22 57%
India 6 7 33%
Italy 4 4 75%
Pakistan 1 1 100%
Poland 3 8 33%
Romania 2 2 0%
Singapore 1 1 0%
Switzerland 4 4 75%
Turkey 2 2 50%
United Kingdom 26 27 58%
United States 113 132 55%
Global Total 201 238

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
Australia 1 1
Austria 11 11
Belgium 2 4
Brazil 3 8
Canada 11 11
Denmark 2 2
France 5 5
Germany 19 22
Greece 2 3
India 1 2
Ireland 16 17
Malta 1 1
Norway 3 9
Poland 2 2
Romania 1 1
Spain 1 1
Switzerland 1 1
United Kingdom 6 32
United States 2,103 4,447
Global Total 2,191 4,580

Download Data for this Reporting Period: XLS