Russia vs Google: Takedown Demands Increased by 25 Percent

Google often provides a peek on how governments which to handle information on the internet and requested day. The company's report even offers an insight about the quantity as well as the number of content takedown demands received from particular organizations or entities. However, according to Tech Crunch, since reports may even be 12 months old, values can be considered muted to a certain extent.

While some may prefer Google to release or handle real-time demands, the figures of the report remain interesting. According to Tech Crunch, Google's figures during the second half of 2012 dealt with declining takedown requests. However, the decline may not merit as much with Google offering the following explanation:

"You may notice that this total decreased slightly from the first half of 2013; this is due to a spike in requests from Turkey during that period, which has since returned to lower levels."

The tech giant did note that Russian requests rose to 25 percent compared to the period of the last report. Italy and Thailand as close behind Russia. In CNN's report in relation to Google's transparency report, it explains how Russia sought to delete a blog post contain the words "got chocolate." The Russian government even went as far to say that the page breached federal law. CNN clarifies that in Russia, "chocolate" is a interchangeable term with recreational drug. There is a law in the country requiring the takedown of content related to drugs.

Additionally, Google also worked with the Russian government to remove a YouTube video documentary on suicide because it breaches the federal law. Google defended the video previously saying that it had a positive message for people to get help. There have been widespread requests from governments all over the world about the removal of content on YouTube and other similar platforms. Depending on the region, some videos or written material can have a rippling effect such as inmate abuse and other issues.