Increasingly, African governments are requesting user information from the likes of Facebook and Google, according a Quartz Africa report.

A study conducted by the Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa – a group focused on internet policy throughout the continent – shows that on the social media front, Facebook received user data requests from 18 African countries last year, compared to just five in 2013.

The social media giant received the highest aggregated number of user information requests from South Africa (32), followed by Egypt (31) and Sudan (24). Nigeria appealed for more information than any other country on the continent, making 16 requests covering 113 user accounts.

Meanwhile, Google has received requests for user specifics from 10 governments, 21 of which came from Kenya, regarding 32 user accounts. However, Facebook and Google do not always comply with the requests received.

12 September 2017
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