Government
surveillance report

Surfshark research hub analyzed user data requests that Apple, Google, Facebook, and Microsoft received from 177 countries between 2013 and 2020. As a data request can cover multiple accounts, the research looks into the number of accounts specified in these requests, examines their global distribution per population, and compares the number of partially or fully disclosed requests.

Government surveillance is growing. The number of accounts requested increased more than four times from 2013 to 2020, with 2020 seeing the most significant year-over-year increase of almost 40%.

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The US and EU authorities request data the most. Both regions account for nearly two-thirds of all accounts of interest from 2013 to 2020. To compare, the US requested more than double the accounts per 100K people than all the EU countries combined.

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Companies disclose user data more than ever. From 2013 to 2020, the number of disclosed requests grew by almost 280%. On average, companies comply with 7 out of 10 demands to produce account data.

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Government surveillance is on the rise

Total number of accounts requested (2013-2020)

Apple
Google
Facebook
Microsoft

2020 saw the most significant year-over-year increase in accounts requested so far - from 0.9M to 1.3M. This is likely related to the rise in online crime during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Over the period of 2013-2020, Facebook hosted the most accounts that interested authorities among all four companies (2M) - or two out of five accounts requested during this time (5M). On the other end of the scale, Apple covered the fewest requested accounts - 340K - or just 7% of total accounts of interest to authorities.

Requests for account data

The heatmap shows the total number of accounts specified in user data requests (per 100,000 people) that each country’s government institution submitted from 2013 to 2020.

Countries with a population of less than 1M were not included.

5,008,933 The number of accounts in user data requests from 177 countries to Apple, Google, Facebook, and Microsoft from 2013 to 2020.

1,288,823 The number of accounts in user data requests in 2020 alone. This amounts to a quarter of the eight-year total.

1,936,748 The number of accounts affected by user data requests by the US authorities from 2013 to 2020. More than a third (39%) of total account requests came from the US authorities.

The US and the EU dominate the user data surveillance list

The US tops the list with nearly 2M accounts in user data requests since 2013. Looking at the top 10, five countries are from the EU. The UK, Australia, Singapore, and Taiwan comprise the rest.

Countries with a population of less than 1M were not included in the ranking.

Most surveilled countries	Population (2020)	Accounts specified in requests (2013-2020)	Accounts per 100k population (2013-2020)	Region
1. U.S.	331,002,651	1,936,748	585.12	North America
2. Germany	83,783,942	409,850	489.17	Europe
3. U.K.	67,886,011	330,068	486.21	Europe
4. Singapore	5,850,342	26,419	451.58	Asia
5. France	65,273,511	281,352	431.04	Europe
6. Ireland	4,937,786	16,819	340.62	Europe
7. Portugal	10,196,709	31,031	304.32	Europe
8. Australia	25,499,884	65,582	257.19	Oceania
9. Belgium	11,589,623	28,774	248.27	Europe
10. Taiwan	23,816,775	58,860	247.14	Asia
11. Norway	5,421,241	10,444	192.65	Europe
12. Israel	8,655,535	15,835	182.95	Asia
13. Sweden	10,099,265	18,057	178.80	Europe
14. Brazil	212,559,417	378,450	178.04	South America
15. Poland	37,846,611	63,882	168.79	Europe
16. Italy	60,461,826	100,400	166.06	Europe
17. Switzerland	8,654,622	14,239	164.52	Europe
18. South Korea	51,269,185	80,361	156.74	Asia
19. Netherlands	17,134,872	26,739	156.05	Europe
20. Estonia	1,326,535	2,063	155.52	Europe
21. Lithuania	2,722,289	3,842	141.13	Europe
22. Spain	46,754,778	63,294	135.37	Europe
23. Turkey	84,339,067	106,455	126.22	Asia
24. Hong Kong	7,496,981	9,356	124.80	Asia
25. Greece	10,423,054	11,439	109.75	Europe
26. Argentina	45,195,774	47,587	105.29	South America
27. New Zealand	4,822,233	4,924	102.11	Oceania
28. Austria	9,006,398	8,146	90.45	Europe
29. Finland	5,540,720	4,844	87.43	Europe
30. Chile	19,116,201	16,621	86.95	South America
31. Canada	37,742,154	31,446	83.32	North America
32. Hungary	9,660,351	7,762	80.35	Europe
33. Czechia	10,708,981	7,930	74.05	Europe
34. Denmark	5,792,202	3,988	68.85	Europe
35. North Macedonia	2,083,374	1,052	50.50	Europe
36. Slovenia	2,078,938	866	41.66	Europe
37. Croatia	4,105,267	1,586	38.63	Europe
38. India	1,380,004,385	531,633	38.52	Asia
39. Mexico	128,932,753	44,211	34.29	North America
40. Serbia	8,737,371	2,679	30.66	Europe
41. Latvia	1,886,198	554	29.37	Europe
42. Cyprus	1,207,359	323	26.75	Asia
43. Romania	19,237,691	4,890	25.42	Europe
44. Costa Rica	5,094,118	1,251	24.56	North America
45. Bosnia and Herzegovina	3,280,819	779	23.74	Europe
46. Kosovo	1,775,000	406	22.87	Europe
47. Dominican Republic	10,847,910	2,470	22.77	North America
48. Colombia	50,882,891	10,806	21.24	South America
49. Slovakia	5,459,642	1,118	20.48	Europe
50. Jordan	10,203,134	1,944	19.05	Asia
51. Guatemala	17,915,568	2,952	16.48	North America
52. Ecuador	17,643,054	2,771	15.71	South America
53. Uruguay	3,473,730	473	13.62	South America
54. Albania	2,877,797	382	13.27	Europe
55. Japan	126,476,461	16,641	13.16	Asia
56. Pakistan	220,892,340	21,406	9.69	Asia
57. Armenia	2,963,243	283	9.55	Asia
58. Panama	4,314,767	411	9.53	North America
59. Georgia	3,989,167	314	7.87	Asia
60. Nepal	29,136,808	2,289	7.86	Asia
61. Moldova	4,033,963	288	7.14	Europe
62. Bulgaria	6,948,445	492	7.08	Europe
63. Peru	32,971,854	2,309	7.00	South America
64. China	1,439,323,776	94,878	6.59	Asia
65. Russia	145,934,462	8,468	5.80	Europe
66. El Salvador	6,486,205	293	4.52	North America
67. Mongolia	3,278,290	140	4.27	Asia
68. Kuwait	4,270,571	166	3.89	Asia
69. Paraguay	7,132,538	262	3.67	South America
70. Sri Lanka	21,413,249	630	2.94	Asia
71. Morocco	36,910,560	1,072	2.90	Africa
72. Malaysia	32,365,999	854	2.64	Asia
73. Ukraine	43,733,762	1,123	2.57	Europe
74. U.A.E.	9,890,402	253	2.56	Asia
75. Qatar	2,881,053	68	2.36	Asia
76. Belarus	9,449,323	152	1.61	Europe
77. Lebanon	6,825,445	107	1.57	Asia
78. Thailand	69,799,978	1,025	1.47	Asia
79. Bangladesh	164,689,383	2,148	1.30	Asia
80. Palestine	5,101,414	63	1.23	Asia
81. Eswatini	1,160,164	14	1.21	Africa
82. Bahrain	1,701,575	20	1.18	Asia
83. Botswana	2,351,627	26	1.11	Africa
84. Trinidad and Tobago	1,399,488	13	0.93	North America
85. Oman	5,106,626	46	0.90	Asia
86. Tunisia	11,818,619	78	0.66	Africa
87. Venezuela	28,435,940	184	0.65	South America
88. Honduras	9,904,607	58	0.59	North America
89. Iraq	40,222,493	215	0.53	Asia
90. Ivory Coast	26,378,274	137	0.52	Africa
91. Philippines	109,581,078	500	0.46	Asia
92. Sudan	43,849,260	171	0.39	Africa
93. South Africa	59,308,690	229	0.39	Africa
94. Azerbaijan	10,139,177	34	0.34	Asia
95. Puerto Rico	2,860,853	9	0.31	North America
96. Senegal	16,743,927	51	0.30	Africa
97. Kenya	53,771,296	156	0.29	Africa
98. Indonesia	273,523,615	617	0.23	Asia
99. Madagascar	27,691,018	62	0.22	Africa
100. Kazakhstan	18,776,707	40	0.21	Asia
101. Nigeria	206,139,589	369	0.18	Africa
102. Malawi	19,129,952	34	0.18	Africa
103. Jamaica	2,961,167	5	0.17	North America
104. Mauritius	1,271,768	2	0.16	Africa
105. Timor-Leste	1,318,445	2	0.15	Asia
106. Saudi Arabia	34,813,871	46	0.13	Asia
107. Cambodia	16,718,965	16	0.10	Asia
108. Burkina Faso	20,903,273	20	0.10	Africa
109. Vietnam	97,338,579	87	0.09	Asia
110. Egypt	102,334,404	83	0.08	Africa
111. Ghana	31,072,940	25	0.08	Africa
112. Namibia	2,540,905	2	0.08	Africa
113. Benin	12,123,200	8	0.07	Africa
114. Togo	8,278,724	5	0.06	Africa
115. Bolivia	11,673,021	6	0.05	South America
116. Lesotho	2,142,249	1	0.05	Africa
117. Rwanda	12,952,218	5	0.04	Africa
118. Zambia	18,383,955	7	0.04	Africa
119. Uzbekistan	33,469,203	11	0.03	Asia
120. Nicaragua	6,624,554	2	0.03	North America
121. Iran	83,992,949	25	0.03	Asia
122. Cameroon	26,545,863	7	0.03	Africa
123. Uganda	45,741,007	12	0.03	Africa
124. Afghanistan	38,928,346	9	0.02	Asia
125. Congo DR	89,561,403	18	0.02	Africa
126. Liberia	5,057,681	1	0.02	Africa
127. Mozambique	31,255,435	5	0.02	Africa
128. Guinea	13,132,795	2	0.02	Africa
129. Mali	20,250,833	3	0.01	Africa
130. Myanmar	54,409,800	8	0.01	Asia
131. Sierra Leone	7,976,983	1	0.01	Africa
132. Algeria	43,851,044	5	0.01	Africa
133. Tajikistan	9,537,645	1	0.01	Asia
134. Chad	16,425,864	1	0.01	Africa
135. Angola	32,866,272	2	0.01	Africa
136. Tanzania	59,734,218	3	0.01	Africa
137. Niger	24,206,644	1	0.00	Africa

Companies submit user data for more than two-thirds of requests

Percentage of fully or partially disclosed user data requests — Percentage of partially or fully disclosed user data requests (accumulated yearly average)

On average, companies complied with 70% of user data requests between 2013 and 2020. Compliance (partial or full disclosure) with user data requests ranged from 66% to 73%.

Apple is the only outlier, submitting user data for 80% of requests.

Company-level disclosure rate

Apple

Apple has led in disclosure rate since 2016, raising it from 75% in 2016 to 85% in 2020. The remaining three companies average at 70%. More than half (58%) of all requests that Apple complied with had come from the US.

Facebook

Facebook’s disclosure rate was rising until it peaked at nearly 75% in 2017. It has been slowly decreasing, although it remains significantly higher than in 2013 (73% vs. 63%).

Google

Google’s disclosure rate had been on the decrease until 2016 when it started climbing by nearly 4% every year. It peaked at 76% in 2020, placing Google 2nd behind Apple.

Microsoft

Even though Microsoft’s disclosure rate has been decreasing throughout the whole eight-year period, it led the chart until 2016. Since 2018, it has been complying with the least number of requests out of all four companies.

Methodology

The Government Surveillance Report uses information from transparency reports published by four major tech companies - Apple, Google, Facebook, and Microsoft. Amazon was specifically excluded due to the lack of and/or inconsistency in reporting user data disclosure practices. The study identifies 177 different countries that have requested user data from these companies between 2013 and 2020. User data requests include two types of metrics - the number of requests a company received from authorities and the number of accounts specified within them.

The collected data was aggregated and analyzed according to five major categories: user data requests received, partially or fully disclosed requests, percentages of disclosed requests, accounts specified within these requests, and requested accounts per 100,000 people in each country. Countries with less than 1M people were excluded from the ranking as these countries often are the outliers in global distribution per population metrics due to small population numbers. Excluding countries and territories with fewer than 1M people in population does not significantly impact the global statistics as such countries do not account for even 1% of the global population.

Full research material and notes on company-level data

Download all charts and visuals

Data sources:

Population data
Transparency reports:
- Facebook
- Google
- Microsoft
- Apple

Governmentsurveillance report

Government surveillance is on the rise

Requests for account data

The US and the EU dominate the user data surveillance list

Companies submit user data for more than two-thirds of requests

Company-level disclosure rate

Apple

Facebook

Google

Microsoft

Methodology

Data sources:

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Government
surveillance report