Transparency Report

January 1, 2019 – June 30, 2019

Released: November 25, 2019

Updated: November 25, 2019

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).

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	10,061	16,058	80%
Subpoena	2,214	4,112	76%
PRTT	87	139	90%
Court Order	222	413	87%
Search Warrant	6,325	9,707	83%
EDR	1,106	1,310	65%
Wiretap Order	9	18	89%
Summons	98	349	85%

International Government Information Requests

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

Country	Emergency Requests	Account Identifiers for Emergency Requests	Percentage of emergency requests where some data was produced	Other Information Requests	Account Identifiers for Other Requests	Percentage of other information request where some data was produced
Total	665	812	63%	625	917	0%
Argentina	0	0	0%	1	1	0%
Australia	11	14	55%	17	26	0%
Austria	1	1	100%	7	7	0%
Bahrain	1	1	100%	0	0	0%
Belgium	1	2	100%	11	11	0%
Brazil	0	0	0%	1	1	0%
Canada	161	181	70%	7	15	14%
Denmark	2	2	50%	37	46	0%
Estonia	0	0	0%	3	4	0%
France	44	54	32%	74	116	0%
Germany	39	47	56%	117	186	0%
India	3	7	0%	15	26	0%
Ireland	1	1	100%	1	1	0%
Israel	1	1	100%	0	0	0%
Jordan	0	0	0%	2	2	0%
Latvia	0	0	0%	1	1	0%
Lithuania	0	0	0%	1	1	0%
Macedonia	0	0	0%	1	1	0%
Malta	0	0	0%	1	1	0%
Monaco	4	5	25%	2	6	0%
Netherlands	24	31	54%	2	2	0%
New Zealand	2	2	0%	1	2	0%
Norway	17	22	71%	33	51	0%
Pakistan	1	1	0%	0	0	0%
Poland	3	5	33%	14	29	0%
Qatar	2	2	50%	0	0	0%
Slovenia	0	0	0%	1	1	0%
Sweden	9	11	33%	23	27	0%
Switzerland	10	11	60%	10	17	0%
United Arab Emirates	16	18	75%	0	0	0%
United Kingdom	312	393	67%	242	336	1%

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
26	8%

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	42	55
France	46	67
Iraq	2	2
New Zealand	19	29
Qatar	1	1
United Kingdom	17	20

Copyrighted Content Takedown Notices (DMCA)

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

DMCA Takedown Notices	Percentage of requests where some content was removed
50	34%

DMCA Counter-Notices	Percentage of requests where some content was reinstated
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.