Reddit reveals how much it complies with government subpoenas

Reddit disclosed Thursday that it received 55 U.S. government and international requests for users’ information in 2014.  

It has become increasingly common for technology websites to disclose the number of government requests they receive in so-called transparency reports. Google began in 2010 and the trend increased following the U.S. government surveillance leaks from Edward Snowden.

{mosads}Reddit complied, at least in part, with 58 percent of the government requests, coming in the form of subpoenas, warrants and emergency requests. The requests regularly ask for user information that includes registration data and a user’s content. 

U.S. subpoenas were the most common type of government request. It received five international requests, but the company noted that it does not comply with those because it is based in the United States.

“When we receive a request, we make sure it is legitimate and not overbroad, and we provide advance notice to affected users unless prohibited by a court order or where we decide delayed notice is appropriate based on clear criteria described in our privacy policy,” the company said in the report. 

Requests for data from Reddit is small compared to others. In the United States alone, Facebook received 15,433 law enforcement requests in the first half of 2014.

Reddit has received 218 requests to remove content, for trademark, copyright and other reasons. It has complied with 31 percent of those requests. 

The company said it has never received a National Security Letter under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. If it ever does, Reddit said it would attempt to let the public know about it. 

Those classified requests have become a controversial topic for technology companies because of the gag order that is associated with them. Companies are prohibited from disclosing the exact amount of request they receive and must instead disclose them in wide ranges. 

For example, Facebook noted that it has received between zero and 999 such orders. 

Twitter has sued over the issue, saying it should be able to say specifically what kind of legal orders it has received — “even if that number is zero.”