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 19 15 6 40 43
Australia 49 18 20 87 90
Austria 1 6 2 9 9
Belgium 0 8 2 10 18
Brazil 122 92 36 250 366
Bulgaria 0 2 0 2 2
Canada 9 6 6 21 28
Costa Rica 0 1 0 1 1
France 133 157 60 350 422
Germany 562 418 242 1,222 1,403
Greece 0 10 3 13 14
Hong Kong 0 5 0 5 5
Hungary 0 3 1 4 6
India 133 106 47 286 352
Ireland 14 3 2 19 24
Italy 17 59 35 111 202
Latvia 0 2 0 2 3
Lithuania 0 4 0 4 4
Luxembourg 0 1 0 1 1
Malta 0 9 2 11 12
Mexico 2 3 2 7 7
New Zealand 2 0 1 3 3
Pakistan 0 1 0 1 1
Philippines 0 0 0 0
Poland 0 11 0 11 11
Portugal 0 1 0 1 1
Romania 0 11 5 16 23
Serbia 0 2 0 2 4
Singapore 7 4 0 11 12
Spain 49 58 49 156 239
Sweden 0 0 1 1 2
Switzerland 0 11 2 13 115
Taiwan 253 129 24 406 1,048
United Kingdom 479 301 195 975 1,425
United States* 3,996 262 749 5,007 10,164
Global Total 5,847 1,719 1,492 9,058 16,060

*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
Austria 2 2 50%
Canada 13 16 62%
Costa Rica 1 1 0%
Cyprus 1 1 100%
Finland 1 2 0%
France 1 1 0%
Germany 3 4 33%
Greece 1 1 0%
India 1 2 100%
Jamaica 1 1 100
Poland 1 1 100%
Romania 1 1 0%%
Sweden 3 3 100%
Switzerland 1 2 100%
United Kingdom 15 15 73%
United States 109 144 42%
Global Total 155 197

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 3 3
Australia 4 5
Austria 5 13
Belgium 1 1
Brazil 7 7
Canada 10 11
France 19 19
Germany 91 105
Hungary 1 3
India 1 1
Ireland 17 48
Lithuania 1 1
Malta 5 5
Poland 1 1
Slovenia 1 1
Spain 3 3
Switzerland 3 3
United Kingdom 16 25
United States 1,751 3,916
Global Total 1,940 4,171

Download Data for this Reporting Period: CSV