Authorities requested information of 52 Maldivian Facebook users

Maldivian authorities requested access to information of 52 Maldivian Facebook users in the first half of this year, says Facebook.

The Facebook transparency reports released by the company states Maldivian authorities sent 37 requests for information regarding 52 individuals. 36 of the requests were for information of 49 individuals facing trial. The authorities requested information of one of those individuals as an emergency.

Facebook said 78.11 percent of information from the requested accounts were retrieved and compiled. The company said it also cooperated with the Maldivian authorities’ request for information from one user for a period of 90 days for a criminal investigation.

The most number of requests for information on Facebook users was made from the United States. The country made 32,716 requests for information of 52,280 users.

Every request for information of a Facebook user must be accompanied with papers to verify the authenticity of the request. The company discloses information of suspects and criminals only in those instances.

The company said the most requests for information were regarding the name of the user, and the duration he/she he uses the account for.