Transparency reports are becoming increasingly common in the post-Snowden world, particularly for Internet-based companies like Facebook, Google, Twitter, and now Reddit. The “front page of the Internet” has released its first-ever transparency report that, while not detailing specific instances, does list all of the takedown and user information requests that it received and complied with.
Reddit just released its first transparency report, outlining the requests for user information and for content takedown that it received in 2014. Not surprisingly, the report doesn’t go into detail about individual requests, but it does break things down by category. It also notes how many of those requests the news and content-sharing site actually complied with and offers some context around how the company makes those decisions. On the user information side, Reddit says it received 55 requests in 2014, which covered 78 different user accounts. The requests asked for things like account registration data, log data, and content uploaded by users, and Reddit says it complied with 58 percent of them. In those cases, the company says it notified the affected user “unless provided by a court order or where we decide delayed notice is appropriate based on clear criteria.”
