With TikTok now officially banned from the U.S. Navy as well as the Military, the company has now published its first-ever transparency report for the first half of 2019 detailing the countries that asked for user information the most.
The report revealed that the highest number of government or legal related requests came from India. Apparently, there were a total of 107 legal requests pertaining to 143 Indian accounts with TikTok providing details in 47% of the cases. The U.S. was next with 79 requests about 255 accounts wherein the company provided information in 86% of the cases.
In its report, the company also added: “To foster candid dialogue essential to earning and maintaining trust, we are publishing our first transparency report this year, providing insight into how we responsibly respond to legal requests regarding user content.
“We take any request from government bodies extremely seriously, and closely review each such request we receive to determine whether, for example, the request adheres to the required legal process or the content violates a local law. TikTok is committed to assisting law enforcement in appropriate circumstances while respecting the privacy and rights of our users,” the company added.
TikTok didn’t offer any stats about China because it has a separate app in the region called Douyin. ByteDance owns both and has tried to marketed them as the same service for different regions. However, after the Navy ban, the company is reportedly being pushed to consider selling part of its stake to reassure the security agencies.
The company has mentioned that it will offer a report for the requests from the second half of 2019 over the next few months. TikTok rose to prominence over the past couple of years, becoming an instant hit with users worldwide.
You can check out more details in the company’s transparency report here.