Transparency Report

November 1, 2014 – February 28, 2015

Released: April 2, 2015

Updated: March 29, 2016

Even though Snapchat has promoted user privacy and autonomy since its founding, we’ve only recently been able to systematically track and report requests for user information. Beginning in July 2015, we will publish a bi-annual Transparency Report, which will explore government requests we have received for users’ account information, government demands to remove users’ content, and requests to takedown content for alleged copyright violations.

But in the interest of transparency, we figured why wait until we had a full six months of data before publishing our first Transparency Report. So what you’ll see here in our inaugural report covers all the various requests we received from November 1, 2014 through February 28, 2015—and how often we honored those requests.

For more information about how we handle these sorts of requests, please take a look at our Law Enforcement Guide, Privacy Policy, and Terms of Service.

United States Criminal Legal Requests

Requests for User Information pursuant to U.S. legal process.

Reporting Period	Requests	Account Identifiers*	Percentage of requests where some data was produced
November 1, 2014—February 28, 2015	375	666	92%
Subpoena	159	326	89%
Pen Register Order	0	N/A	N/A
Court Order	24	33	88%
Search Warrant	172	286	96%
Emergency	20	21	85%
Wiretap Order	0	N/A	N/A

United States National Security Requests

Requests for User Information pursuant to national security legal process.

National Security	Requests	Account Identifiers*
November 1, 2014—February 28, 2015
FISA	0-499	0-499
NSL	0	N/A

International Government Information Requests

Requests for User Information from government entities outside the United States.

Reporting Period	Requests	Account Identifiers*	Percentage of requests where some data was produced
November 1, 2014—February 28, 2015	28	35	21%
Belgium - Emergency	1	2	100%
Canada - Emergency	3	3	100%
France - Other	9	9	0%
Hungary - Other	1	1	0%
Ireland - Other	2	2	0%
Norway - Emergency	1	2	100%
Norway - Other	1	1	0%
United Kingdom - Emergency	3	3	33%
United Kingdom - Other	7	12	0%

Governmental Content Removal Requests

This category identifies demands by a government entity to remove content that would otherwise be permissible under our Terms of Service or Community Guidelines.

Reporting Period	Removal Requests	Percentage of requests where some content was removed
November 1, 2014—February 28, 2015	0	N/A

Copyrighted Content Takedown Notices (DMCA)

This category reflects any valid takedown notices we received under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

Reporting Period	DMCA Takedown Notices	Percentage of requests where some content was removed
November 1, 2014—February 28, 2015	0	N/A

Reporting Period	DMCA Counter-Notices	Percentage of requests where some content was reinstated
November 1, 2014—February 28, 2015	0	N/A

* “Account Identifiers” reflects the number of identifiers (e.g. username, email address, phone number, etc.) specified by law enforcement in legal process when requesting user information. Some legal process may include more than one identifier. In some instances, multiple identifiers may identify a single account. In instances where a single identifier is specified in multiple requests, each instance is included.