Transparency Report

July 1, 2015 – December 31, 2015

Released: March 29, 2016

Updated: September 1, 2016

Snapchat Transparency Reports are released twice a year. These reports provide important insight into the volume and nature of governmental requests for Snapchatters' account information and other legal notifications.

Federal law requires a six-month delay in reporting certain statistics related to national security requests. Now that six months have elapsed since our previous Transparency Reports, we have updated them with new national security data. Our previous Transparency Reports are available here and here.

Since November 15, 2015, our policy has been to notify Snapchatters when we receive legal process seeking their account information, with exceptions for cases where we are legally prohibited from doing so, or when we believe there are exceptional circumstances (like child exploitation or an imminent risk of death or bodily injury).

For more information about how we handle law enforcement data requests, please take a look at our Law Enforcement Guide, Privacy Policy, and Terms of Service.

United States Criminal Legal Requests

Requests for User Information pursuant to U.S. legal process.

Reporting Period	Requests	Account Identifiers*	Percentage of requests where some data was produced
July 1, 2015—December 31, 2015	862	1,819	80%
Subpoena	356	1,044	76%
Pen Register Order	8	9	50%
Court Order	64	110	89%
Search Warrant	368	573	85%
Emergency	66	83	70%
Wiretap Order	0	N/A	N/A

United States National Security Requests

Requests for User Information pursuant to national security legal process.

National Security	Requests	Account Identifiers*
July 1, 2015—December 31, 2015
FISA	0-499	0-499
NSL	0-499	0-499

International Government Information Requests

Requests for User Information from government entities outside the United States.

Reporting Period	Emergency Requests	Account Identifiers for Emergency Requests	Percentage of emergency requests where some data was produced	Other Information Requests	Account Identifiers for Other Requests	Percentage of other information request where some data was produced
July 1, 2015—December 31, 2015	22	24	82%	66	85	0%
Australia	1	2	100%	2	2	0%
Canada	3	4	100%	0	N/A	N/A
Denmark	0	N/A	N/A	3	4	0%
France	2	2	50%	26	33	0%
Germany	0	N/A	N/A	5	8	0%
Mexico	0	N/A	N/A	1	1	0%
Netherlands	0	N/A	N/A	1	1	0%
Norway	1	1	0%	3	3	0%
Spain	0	N/A	N/A	2	2	0%
Sweden	0	N/A	N/A	2	3	0%
United Kingdom	15	15	80%	19	21	0%

Governmental Content Removal Requests

This category identifies demands by a government entity to remove content that would otherwise be permissible under our Terms of Service or Community Guidelines.

Reporting Period	Removal Requests	Percentage of requests where some content was removed
July 1, 2015—December 31, 2015	0	N/A

Copyrighted Content Takedown Notices (DMCA)

This category reflects any valid takedown notices we received under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

Reporting Period	DMCA Takedown Notices	Percentage of requests where some content was removed
July 1, 2015—December 31, 2015	7	100%

Reporting Period	DMCA Counter-Notices	Percentage of requests where some content was reinstated
July 1, 2015—December 31, 2015	0	N/A

* “Account Identifiers” reflects the number of identifiers (e.g. username, email address, phone number, etc.) specified by law enforcement in legal process when requesting user information. Some legal process may include more than one identifier. In some instances, multiple identifiers may identify a single account. In instances where a single identifier is specified in multiple requests, each instance is included.