For the first time ever, the Internet services giant Yandex has released statistics on the number of requests for user information it has received from Russian government agencies. In the first half of 2020, branches of the government sent the company more than 15,000 requests and Yandex fulfilled 84 percent of them. According to Russian law, the Federal Security Service (FSB), Interior Ministry, and other security agencies have the right to request that companies hand over data if it’s necessary for investigative work.
It is not customary to talk about the number of these requests — even less so about their content — in any industry besides the Internet business. Among foreign companies, Google first published these statistics ten years ago, followed by Twitter, Facebook, and other major Internet service providers. Today’s publication from Yandex is the first example of a transparency report from among Russia’s major Internet companies.
Yandex releases first-ever transparency report on government requests for user dataRead More
