Amazon Quietly Drops Content Removal Data From Transparency Report
Amazon releases its latest bi-annual transparency report showing steady government data demands, but noticeably omits previously tracked content removal requests. The company continues its trend of providing bare-minimum disclosures compared to other major tech giants.
Amazon releases its bi-annual transparency report detailing government data demands, showing 1,736 subpoenas, search warrants, and court orders in the second half of the year. The total marks a slight decrease from the previous reporting period, while AWS-specific requests drop to 175 from 253. However, the company continues to withhold specific figures regarding government demands for Echo smart speaker data.
Noticeably absent from this latest report is any mention of government requests to remove user content or accounts. Amazon previously tracked and reported these removal demands separately, but the current document omits this category entirely without providing a zero or any explanation. The company declines to comment on why it chooses to no longer disclose this information.
This minimal disclosure reflects Amazon's long-standing reluctance to embrace the transparency report movement that followed the Edward Snowden surveillance revelations. While tech peers like Apple, Facebook, Google, and Microsoft steadily expand their reports to include detailed graphics and international breakdowns, Amazon maintains a bare-bones, two-page document that seems designed to attract as little attention as possible.