We are Snap Inc.

Snapchat Transparency Reports are released twice a year. These reports provide important insight into the volume and nature of governmental requests for Snapchatters' account information and other legal notifications.

Since November 15, 2015, our policy has been to notify Snapchatters when we receive legal process seeking their account information, with exceptions for cases where we are legally prohibited from doing so, or when we believe there are exceptional circumstances (like child exploitation or an imminent risk of death or bodily injury).

As technology and platforms have evolved, so too has the practice of providing important information to the public. Starting with this Transparency Report, we are providing insights into the volume and nature of accounts reported on Snapchat for violations of our Terms of Service or Community Guidelines.

We believe these disclosures provide our community with useful information on the volume and types of content reported and enforced on Snapchat. This knowledge will assist us in creating effective solutions to address harmful content.

For more information about how we handle law enforcement data 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.

Category

Requests

Account Identifiers

Percentage of requests where some data was produced

Total

11,903

19,214

78%

Subpoena

2,398

4,812

75%

PRTT

141

85%

Court Order

206

475

82%

Search Warrant

7,628

11,452

81%

EDR

1,403

1,668

67%

Wiretap Order

82%

Summons

159

631

86%

International Government Information Requests

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

* “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.

United States National Security Requests

Requests for User Information pursuant to national security legal process.

National Security

Requests

Account Identifiers*

NSLs and FISA Orders/Directives

O-249

1250-1499

Government 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.

Removal Requests

Percentage of requests where some content was removed

N/A

Note: Although we do not formally track when we remove content that violates our policies when a request has been made by a governmental entity, we believe it is an extremely rare occurrence. When we believe it is necessary to restrict content that is deemed unlawful in a particular country, but does not otherwise violate our policies, we seek to restrict access to it geographically when possible, rather than remove it globally.

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

Country

Number of requests

Number of posts removed or restricted or number of accounts suspended

Australia

France

Iraq

New Zealand

Qatar

United Kingdom

Copyrighted Content Takedown Notices (DMCA)

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

DMCA Takedown Notices

DMCA Counter-Notices

Percentage of requests where some content was reinstated

Account / Content Violations

We enforced against 3,788,227 pieces of content, globally, for violations of our Community Guidelines, which amounts to less than .012% of total Story postings. Our teams take action on such violations, whether it’s to remove content, delete accounts, report information to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC), or escalate to law enforcement. In the vast majority of cases, we enforce against content within 2 hours of receiving an in-app report.

Reason

Content Reports*

Content Enforced

Unique Accounts Enforced

Harassment and Bullying

918,902

221,246

185,815

Hate Speech

181,789

46,936

41,381

Impersonation

1,272,934

29,972

28,101

Regulated Goods

467,822

248,581

140,583

Sexually Explicit Content

5,428,455

2,930,946

747,797

Spam

579,767

63,917

34,574

Threats/Violence/Harm

1,056,437

246,629

176,912

Total

9,906,106

3,788,227

1,355,163

*The Content Reports reflect alleged violations via our in app reporting product.

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Child Sexual Abuse Materials (CSAM) Takedown

The exploitation of any member of our community, especially minors, is absolutely unacceptable and criminal. Preventing, detecting, and eliminating abuse on our platform is a top priority and we work hard to combat this type of illegal activity, informed by our partnerships with NCMEC, law enforcement, and trusted experts that make up Snap’s Safety Advisory Board. In addition to taking action on reported content, we utilize proactive detection methods to stop the spread of CSAM before it occurs. Of the total accounts enforced against for Community Guidelines violations, we removed 2.51% for CSAM takedown.

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For more information about how we handle law enforcement data 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.