Government Requests and Intellectual Property Takedown Notices
A critical part of our work to make Snapchat safer is cooperating with law enforcement and government agencies to fulfil valid requests for information to assist in investigations. We also work to proactively escalate any situations that could involve imminent threats to life or bodily harm.
Although content on Snapchat generally deletes by default after a period, we work to preserve data and provide account information to government agencies in accordance with applicable law. Once we have received and established the validity of a legal request for Snapchat account records – which is important in verifying the request is being made by a legitimate law enforcement or government agency and not a bad actor – we respond in compliance with applicable law and privacy requirements.
The charts below detail the types of requests we support from law enforcement and government agencies, including subpoenas and summons, court orders, search warrants and emergency disclosure requests.
The percentage of requests for which some data was produced is calculated as of the publication date, based on requests received within the reporting period. In infrequent situations where a request was determined to contain a deficiency – leading Snap not to produce data – and law enforcement later submitted an amended, valid request after publication of the transparency report, the later production of data would not be reflected in the original or subsequent reporting periods.
United States Government Information Requests
This section relates to requests for user information from US government entities, broken down by the types of requests we support.
Category
Requests
Accounts Specified
Percentage of requests where some data was produced
Total
24,246
40,251
80.70%
Subpoena/Summons
5.877
12,571
82.00%
PRTT
368
GBM
83.40%
Court order
500
1,696
83.60%
Search warrant
14,293
21,649
82.20%
Emergency Disclosure Requests
3,196
3.906
70.70%
Wiretap
12
19
100.00%
International Government Information Requests
This section relates to requests for user information from government entities outside the United States.
Country
Emergency Disclosure Requests (EDRs)
Accounts Specified* for EDRs
Percentage of EDRs where some data was produced
Other information requests
Accounts Specified* for Other information Requests
Percentage of other information requests where some data was produced
Argentina
1
1
0.00%
GBM
16
0.00%
Australia
200
GBM
58.50%
1,148
1,723
80.20%
Austria
0s
33
52.00%
_Core
425
56.90%
Bangladesh
0
0
0.00%
1
1
0.00%
Belgium
50
61
76.00%
948
2,189
81.40%
Bermuda
29
29
79.30%
0
0
0.00%
Bolivia
1
1
0.00%
0
0
0.00%
Bosnia and Herzegovina
0
0
0.00%
1
1
0.00%
Brazil
0
0
0.00%
19
27
0.00%
Bulgaria
0
0
0.00%
3
5
0.00%
Canada
1,223
1,395
65.60%
GBM
769
79.60%
Colombia
1
1
100.00%
0
0
0.00%
Costa Rica
0
0
0.00%
2
3
0.00%
Croatia
1
1
0.00%
21
125
90.50%
Cyprus
1
1
100.00%
1
1
0.00%
Czechia
1
1
100.00%
2
2
0.00%
Denmark
Snapchat
53
65.90%
GBM
Snapchat
93.20%
Estonia
0
0
0.00%
4
4
0.00%
Finland
32
55
68.80%
GBM
GBM
91.80%
France
GBM
431
54.00%
5,899
8,485
62.60%
French Guiana
6
9
33.30%
1
1
0.00%
Germany
Training/HR
Diversity Annual Report
66.90%
4,977
7,470
74.10%
Ghana
0
0
0.00%
2
2
0.00%
Greece
1
1
100.00%
GBM
15
9.10%
Guatemala
1
1
0.00%
0
0
0.00%
Hungary
0
0
0.00%
10
15
30.00%
India
200
GBM
54.50%
1,067
1,506
66.80%
Iraq
1
1
100.00%
1
1
0.00%
Ireland
10
13
50.00%
24
34
8.30%
Israel
2
2
100.00%
52
84
94.20%
Italy
2
2
50.00%
Snapchat
57
21.30%
Jamaica
1
1
100.00%
0
0
0.00%
Jersey
0
0
0.00%
0
1
0.00%
Jordan
24
27
16.70%
79
Snapchat
0.00%
Kosovo
5
5
60.00%
0
0
0.00%
Kuwait
3
5
33.30%
0
0
0.00%
Latvia
1
1
100.00%
0
0
0.00%
Lithuania
6
6
33.30%
7
33
0.00%
Luxembourg
2
2
50.00%
1
1
0.00%
North Macedonia
3
7
100.00%
3
4
0.00%
Malta
0
0
0.00%
23
24
0.00%
Mexico
1
1
0.00%
3
3
0.00%
Monaco
0
0
0.00%
1
1
0.00%
Montenegro
0
0
0.00%
1
1
0.00%
Netherlands
380
GBM
73.90%
GBM
933
84.70%
New Zealand
17
24
64.70%
46
Snapchat
71.70%
Norway
170
_Core
74.70%
GBM
Snap Legal
95.00%
Oman
0
0
0.00%
1
2
0.00%
Pakistan
10
12
0.00%
6
7
0.00%
Poland
26
38
50.00%
112
_Core
50.90%
Portugal
0
0
0.00%
7
12
0.00%
Reunion
3
3
66.70%
0
0
0.00%
Romania
0
0
0.00%
8
8
25.00%
Serbia
0
0
0.00%
15
16
0.00%
Singapore
0
0
0.00%
2
2
0.00%
Slovakia
0
0
0.00%
1
1
0.00%
Slovenia
2
2
0.00%
5
5
0.00%
South Africa
1
1
100.00%
0
0
0.00%
Spain
1
1
0.00%
38
74
47.40%
Sweden
GBM
Training/HR
74.40%
2,061
4,206
91.10%
Switzerland
72
109
61.10%
149
GBM
76.50%
Turkey
2
2
100.00%
7
7
0.00%
United Arab Emirates
19
23
31.60%
4
7
0.00%
United Kingdom
1,953
2,245
70.10%
10,392
13,730
89.30%
United Republic of Tanzania
2
2
50.00%
0
0
0.00%
Uzbekistan
1
1
100.00%
0
0
0.00%
* "Accounts Specified" reflects the number of unique accounts indicated by law enforcement in Legal process when requesting user information. Thus, where multiple identifiers in a legal request identify a single account, they are counted as one "Account Specified" in the above tables. In instances where a Unique account is specified in multiple requests, each request is counted as a separate "Account Specified".
Requests Pursuant To Bilateral Data Access Agreements
This section related to requests for user information from government entities outside the united States pursuant to a Bilateral Data Access Agreement between that government and the US government. In accordance with legal requirements, we disclose this data in ranges of 500.
Country
Requests
Account Identifiers
United Kingdom*
500-999
500-999
Australia
0–499
_**
* To the extent Snap has received requests under the investigatory Powers Act from the United Kingdom pursuant to the US-UK Data Access Agreement, reporting on any such requests will be delayed and in accordance with the applicable requirements of that law. For more information, please see: https://www.ipco.org.uk/publications/annual-reports/.
** Snap is prohibited from publishing any information regarding requests received under the US-Australia Data Access Agreement, except for the total number of requests received in this 6-month reporting period.
United States National Security Requests
This section relates to requests for user information pursuant to US national security legal process. The following includes National Security Letters (NSLs) and Foreign Intelligence Surveillance (FISA) Court Orders/Directives. We disclose this data in ranges of 250.
National Security
Requests
Account Identifiers
NSLs and FISA orders/directives
250-499
1000-1249
Governmental Content & Account Removal Requests
This section relates to demands by a government entity to remove content and accounts that would otherwise be permissible under our Terms of Service or Community Guidelines.
Removal Requests
% of orders resulting in content or account removal
0
N/A
Note: The metrics above relate to valid legal orders received from governmental authorities, which require Snap to take down content and/or account(s) that do(es) not violate our policies. These metrics exclude: (i) requests for the removal of content and/or account(s) that are not valid legal orders, and (ii) requests and orders targeting content and/or account(s) that we determine violate our policies.
Notices of Infringement of Intellectual Property Rights
This category reflects any valid request to remove content allegedly infringing copyright.
Copyright infringement notices
Percentage of requests where some content was removed
1,296
96.80%
Copyright Infringement Counter-Notices
Percentage of requests where some content was republished
36
100%
This category reflects any valid request to remove content allegedly infringing a trademark.
Trademark infringement notices
Percentage of requests where some content was removed
169
60.90%