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 10 0 0 10 14
Australia 131 85 18 234 238
Austria 0 8 1 9 11
Belgium 0 9 1 10 10
Brazil 108 82 41 231 295
Canada 24 16 4 44 94
Columbia 0 1 0 1 1
Czech Republic 0 1 0 1 1
Finland 0 1 0 1 1
France 206 122 83 411 479
Germany 443 1004 417 1864 2382
Greece 0 15 4 19 21
Hong Kong 0 3 0 3 3
Hungary 0 4 1 5 7
India 288 232 74 594 743
Ireland 16 7 4 27 32
Italy 18 74 28 120 145
Latvia 0 2 0 2 2
Malta 0 6 0 6 7
Mexico 1 0 0 1 1
Morocco 0 1 0 1 1
New Zealand 1 0 0 1 1
Norway 0 1 0 1 1
Poland 0 9 2 11 13
Romania 0 11 3 14 19
Singapore 17 16 4 37 44
Spain 35 86 30 151 164
Sweden 0 3 0 3 3
Switzerland 0 6 3 9 11
Taiwan 439 179 26 644 1419
United Kingdom 586 398 223 1207 1352
United States* 4308 254 671 5231 13815
Global Total 6,631 2,636 1,638 10,903 21,330

*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
Brazil 1 1 100%
Canada 18 18 67%
Finland 2 6 50%
France 2 2 0%
Germany 2 2 50%
Greece 1 1 100%
India 5 8 20%
Ireland 1 1 0%
Israel 2 2 50%
Latvia 6 6 67%
Lithuania 1 1 100%
Mexico 3 3 33%
Poland 4 6 100%
Qatar 1 1 100%
Romania 1 1 100%
Singapore 1 1 100%
Sweden 1 1 100%
Switzerland 1 1 100%
Turkey 2 2 0%
Ukraine 1 1 100%
United Kingdom 23 28 87%
United States 132 151 65%
Global Total 211 244

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 4 4
Austria 2 2
Belgium 2 2
Brazil 17 40
Canada 6 15
Costa Rica 1 1
Denmark 2 2
Germany 20 22
Greece 1 1
India 2 2
Ireland 29 30
Italy 1 1
Latvia 2 2
Lithuania 1 1
Norway 2 8
Poland 4 27
Spain 3 3
Sweden 3 3
United Kingdom 7 11
United States 1894 3793
Global Total 2,003 3,970

Download Data for this Reporting Period: XLS