Slack says they've had no government requests for data

News of government requests for data is oftentimes troubling to read. Companies who transmit data typically fall under the watchful gaze of officials who may want to know what some citizens are up to, where those companies get legal requests for all kinds of data, including who we may have spoken with. Slack, the enterprise-focussed chat service, says they've not had a single government request for data of any kind. For such a widely used conversation platform, that's hard to believe.

Anne Toth, Slack's vice president of people, policy, and compliance, wrote "hard as it is to believe, to date Slack has not received a single request for user data or a single content removal request" in a blog post today.

Toth also acknowledges their luck in avoiding takedowns and data requests won't last long:

At our rate of growth, we know this won't be the case forever or even for very much longer. Having the unusual benefit of no user data requests to process, we've been able to step back and think carefully and thoughtfully about what we want our approach to be when that day comes. That thinking is reflected in our policy.

Slack's policy on data requests is fairly standard fare, too; they'll tell you if info about you has been asked for, unless they're prohibited by court order not to share that info with you. IT's pretty much what you'll find anywhere else you may chat or store data.

Slack recently secured $160 million in funding on a $2.8 billion valuation, and their growth has been nothing short of impressive.

Source: Slack