Apple Transparency Report Will Reveal Government App Takedown Requests

Apple has revealed plans to add a new section to its Transparency Report, one that details the app takedown requests the company receives from the government. That revelation was made as a note within the company's latest Transparency Report released today, which details things like device requests, financial identifier requests, and account requests from governments around the world.

The bi-annual transparency report is typical, showing numbers broken down by country and category. With this, we see how often governments around the world have sought information on accounts, finances, and devices, among other things. Apple further refines the data by showing how many requests the company fulfilled.

For example, we see that among worldwide government device requests, Apple received 4,450 from the US, 12,481 from Germany, 2,601 from Australia, 1,912 from Spain, and many more. In the US, Apple says it provided data in 80-percent of cases, 74-percent in Germany, 87-percent in Australia, and more.

Figures aside, a scroll all the way to the bottom of the transparency report reveals plans to add a section on app takedown requests. This section will show the number of times Apple receives requests from governments around the world to remove apps from the App Store. The figures will first appear in the July 1 to December 31, 2018 Apple Transparency Report.

SOURCE: Apple