User Data
Surveillance Report

The User Data Surveillance Report analyzes user data requests that Apple, Google, Facebook, and Microsoft received from 66 countries between 2013 and 2020. The study looks at the numbers of requests for user data made by governmental authorities, compares the amount of fully or partially disclosed requests, and examines their global distribution per population.

Requests for user data

The heatmap shows the total number of user data requests that each country’s government institutions made per 100,000 people through the years 2013 to 2020.

The numbers speak for themselves

3,067,228 The total number of requests made by 66 countries to Google, Facebook, Microsoft, and Apple from 2013 to 2020.

2 million Total number of requests that all the companies have fully or partially disclosed to authorities since 2013.

1,096,910 More than a third of the total requests the companies received were made by the US authorities.

EU countries dominate the user data surveillance list

Seven out of the top ten countries with the highest number user data requests per 100,000 people are from the European Union. Singapore, the United States, and Australia complete the list of the most surveilled countries.

Most surveilled countries	Population (2019)	Number of requests (8-year total)	Requests per 100k population (8-year total)	Region
1. Malta	502,653	3,846	765.14	Europe
2. Singapore	5,703,569	21,249	372.56	Asia
3. Germany	83,132,799	293,660	353.24	Europe
4. United Kingdom	66,834,405	224,689	336.19	Europe
5. United States	328,239,523	1,096,910	334.18	Americas
6. France	67,059,887	210,971	314.60	Europe
7. Ireland	4,941,444	14,933	302.20	Europe
8. Luxembourg	619,896	1,528	246.49	Europe
9. Portugal	10,269,417	24,590	239.45	Europe
10. Australia	25,364,307	49,473	195.05	Oceania
11. Belgium	11,484,055	17,389	151.42	Europe
12. Denmark	5,818,553	8,457	145.35	Europe
13. Taiwan	23,572,052	30,775	130.56	Asia
14. Israel	9,053,300	11,187	123.57	Middle East
15. Poland	37,970,874	43,709	115.11	Europe
16. Sweden	10,285,453	10,968	106.64	Europe
17. Italy	60,297,396	62,934	104.37	Europe
18. Estonia	1,326,590	1,373	103.50	Europe
19. Turkey	83,429,615	86,039	103.13	Middle East
20. Switzerland	8,574,832	8,534	99.52	Europe
21. New Zealand	4,917,000	4,843	98.50	Oceania
22. Hong Kong	7,507,400	7,228	96.28	Asia
23. Norway	5,347,896	5,127	95.87	Europe
24. Netherlands	17,332,850	16,198	93.45	Europe
25. Spain	47,076,781	41,556	88.27	Europe
26. Lithuania	2,786,844	2,447	87.81	Europe
27. Brazil	211,049,527	168,519	79.85	Americas
28. Hungary	9,769,949	7,394	75.68	Europe
29. Argentina	44,938,712	32,568	72.47	Americas
30. Greece	10,716,322	7,692	71.78	Europe
31. South Korea	51,709,098	35,871	69.37	Asia
32. Finland	5,520,314	3,306	59.89	Europe
33. Chile	18,952,038	11,283	59.53	Americas
34. Thailand	69,625,582	40,455	58.10	Asia
35. Canada	37,589,262	20,518	54.58	Americas
36. Czech Republic	10,669,709	5,123	48.01	Europe
37. Ecuador	17,373,662	7,699	44.31	Americas
38. Slovakia	5,454,070	2,375	43.55	Europe
39. Austria	8,877,067	3,747	42.21	Europe
40. Slovenia	2,087,946	760	36.40	Europe
41. Macedonia	2,083,459	534	25.63	Europe
42. India	1,366,417,754	342,622	25.07	Asia
43. Croatia	4,067,500	881	21.66	Europe
44. Mexico	127,575,529	25,996	20.38	Americas
45. Cyprus	1,198,575	227	18.94	Europe
46. Serbia	6,944,975	1,270	18.29	Europe
47. Costa Rica	5,047,561	804	15.93	Americas
48. Romania	19,356,544	2,771	14.32	Europe
49. Bosnia and Herzegovina	3,301,000	400	12.12	Europe
50. Colombia	50,339,443	6,031	11.98	Americas
51. Japan	126,264,931	10,582	8.38	Asia
52. Bulgaria	6,975,761	469	6.72	Europe
53. Pakistan	216,565,318	14,244	6.58	Asia
54. Albania	2,854,191	180	6.31	Europe
55. Russia	144,373,535	6,525	4.52	Asia
56. Peru	32,510,453	1,329	4.09	Americas
57. Armenia	2,957,731	114	3.85	Asia
58. South Africa	58,558,270	1,828	3.12	Africa
59. Moldova	2,657,640	34	1.28	Europe
60. United Arab Emirates	9,770,529	122	1.25	Middle East
61. Ukraine	44,385,150	362	0.82	Europe
62. Bangladesh	163,046,161	1,137	0.70	Asia
63. Dominican Republic	10,738,960	67	0.62	Americas
64. Kenya	52,573,970	149	0.28	Africa
65. Philippines	108,116,615	265	0.25	Asia
66. China mainland	1,397,715,000	362	0.03	Asia

The US authorities are exceptionally interested in what people do online

Between 2013 and 2020, the analyzed companies received almost 40% more user data requests from the US authorities than from all the EU countries combined. The study shows that the US authorities issue nearly double the number of requests for user data per 100,000 people than all the EU countries combined.

EU number of
requests per 100k.

177

US number of
requests per 100k.

334

User surveillance is on the rise

The global number of user data requests made per 100,000 people per year by authorities increased three times over the period from 2013 to 2019.

Total number of user data requests the companies received from 2013 to 2019

Google
Microsoft
Facebook
Apple

Companies disclose more than every other request for user data

Across all four companies examined in the study, the average percentage of fully or partially disclosed requests for data ranges from 55% to 76% (years 2013-2020)

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

Company-level case studies

Google

Google has been a leader in the overall number of disclosed requests for user data since 2013. The company has seen a steady growth of user data requests over the years which became notably steep in 2018 when the requests nearly doubled. However, the company's request disclosure average (58%) has been one of the lowest out of all four companies, just behind Apple. In 2019, Google's disclosed user data request totals were surpassed by Facebook.

Facebook

Number of requests for user data that Facebook receives has grown nearly six fold since 2013. Also, the company leads in partially or fully disclosing the largest percentage of these requests out of all four companies. The United States is by far the most active country in requesting Facebook’s data in terms of sheer numbers and requests per 100,000 people.

Percentage of partially or fully disclosed requests for user data, Facebook 2013-2019

Apple

Apple receives the lowest number of user data requests out of all four companies by a large margin. Its total number of requests over the entire period from 2013 to 2019 doesn’t even come close to what Microsoft, Facebook, or Google receive in a single year. In terms of the average request disclosure, Apple sits at the lowest end of all four companies at 55%. The US is the most active in requesting user data from the company, constituting the majority of all requests received by Apple.

Microsoft

While the other three companies have experienced steady growth in the number of disclosed requests for user information throughout the period, Microsoft has been the only one on the decline since 2015. In contrast to its competitors, Microsoft is also second to Facebook in average request disclosure (66%). From 2013 to 2019, the US was the country with the highest amount of user data requests in terms of raw figures, while Luxembourg saw the largest number of requests per 100,000 people.

Government surveillance grows

The User Data Surveillance Report shows a clear growing tendency of governmental institutions worldwide requesting people’s data from third-party companies. From 2013 to 2020, 3 million requests were made by 66 countries to Google, Facebook, Microsoft, and Apple, out of which nearly 2 million were disclosed. The amount of disclosed requests has grown by 213% from 2013 to 2019.

The amount of fully or partially disclosed requests for user data from authorities has grown by 213% since 2013

Methodology

The User Data Surveillance study uses information from transparency reports published by four major tech companies Google, Facebook, Microsoft, and Apple. Amazon was specifically excluded from the study due to the lack and/or inconsistent reporting of user data disclosure practices. The study identifies 66 different countries that have requested user data from the organizations between 2013 and 2020.

The collected data was aggregated and analyzed according to four major categories: User data requests received, Full or partial disclosure of requests, Percentages of disclosed requests, and Requests made per 100,000 people in each country.

Download all charts and visuals

Data sources:

For population data we used: https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.POP.TOTL
For user data requests we used:

User Data Surveillance Report