Information Requests Report
July 1, 2022 – December 31, 2022
Published May 15, 2023
About this report
TikTok is committed to responding to law enforcement requests for user information disclosure or preservation in a manner that respects the privacy and other rights of our community members. Any request we receive is carefully reviewed on a case-by-case basis. Our policies and procedures govern how TikTok handles and responds to law enforcement requests and require that TikTok disclose or preserves user data only where a request is based on a valid legal process or in emergency circumstances.
In limited emergency situations, TikTok will disclose user information without legal process when we have reason to believe, in good faith, that the disclosure of information is necessary to prevent the imminent risk of death or serious physical injury to any person. For more on our policies and practices, please see our Law Enforcement Guidelines.
The sections below provide insights into the volume and type of requests for user information we received and whether data was disclosed or preserved.
Analysis
We’ve seen an increase in information requests from the last report period, which we attribute to overall platform growth and investments made in familiarising law enforcement with our Law Enforcement Guidelines and processes.
Latest data
DownloadLaw enforcement requests for user information
NOTE: Disclosure rate indicates where at least some data was disclosed. Where data was not disclosed, this includes situations where TikTok sought further information or clarification on the data disclosure request and the requesting law enforcement did not provide necessary information in accordance with our Law Enforcement Guidelines and/or where TikTok rejected the request due to incomplete or invalid legal process. Preservation requests are formal requests from law enforcement agencies to preserve data in order to enable sufficient time for the agency to submit a valid legal process for data disclosure.
Terminology
- Legal requests: Law enforcement requests to disclose user data.
- Emergency requests: Law enforcement requests referencing an emergency situation and requesting disclosure of user data.
- Preservation requests: Law enforcement requests to preserve user data.
- Total requests: Sum ofLegal requests, Emergency requests, and Preservation requests submitted by law enforcement agencies.
- Percentage of Legal requests where some data was disclosed: Rate at which Legal requests resulted in some disclosure of user data.
- Percentage of Emergency requests where some data was disclosed: Rate at which Emergency requests resulted in some disclosure of user data.
- Legal request accounts specified: Account identifiers (e.g. phone number, email, video URLs or username) submitted by law enforcement in Legal requests. If a law enforcement agency submits multiple account identifiers all related to the same TikTok account, this is counted as 1 account specified.
- Emergency request accounts specified: Account identifiers (e.g. phone number, email, video URLs or username) submitted by law enforcement in Emergency requests. If a law enforcement agency submits multiple account identifiers all related to the same TikTok account, this is counted as 1 account specified.
- Preservation request accounts specified: Account identifiers (e.g. phone number, email, video URLs or username) submitted by law enforcement in Preservation requests. If a law enforcement agency submits multiple account identifiers all related to the same TikTok account, this is counted as 1 account specified.
Yes
No