The Maltese government’s thirst for information on Facebook users is, once again, the world’s largest, according to the social media network’s most recent biannual report on government data requests.
The report, which covers the first half of this year, shows that the Maltese authorities have lodged, by far, the most requests with Facebook for information on the network’s users on a per capita basis – more than the US or any other government in the world.
While the Maltese government has topped the Facebook ‘snooping’ rankings since the network began publishing such information on a global basis in 2013, between January and June of this year Malta’s requests for Facebook user data skyrocketed by a further 61 per cent compared to the last half of 2014. This compares with an overall global increase recorded by Facebook of a far smaller 18 per cent.
When looking at the raw data, the United States, with 17,500 requests to Facebook, leads the overall rankings. But given its population of over 300 million, Malta’s 152 requests pertaining to 193 accounts, dwarf those of the United States on a per capita basis.
In fact, the Maltese government’s requests amount to 3.6 requests per 10,000 people – twice the amount of America’s 1.83 requests per 10,000 people.
In terms of government Facebook requests per capita, Malta ranks first, followed by Lichtenstein (on account of its tiny population of 37,624), the US (3rd) and the United Kingdom (4th). Malta leads the EU list by a considerable margin, with the UK coming in second.
Malta, it should be noted, is not a country with threat levels comparable to the US or the UK, which begs the question as to why the Maltese government is so heavily interested in its citizens’ social media usage.
This year’s increase in requests coincides with the increased global fears about the spread of terrorism and ISIS. But Malta’s 61 per cent spike in Facebook user data requests this year compared with the global 18 per cent increase, suggests that there are other factors at play.
Malta’s low level of crime both in absolute terms and relative to the population, and the virtual inability for people to drop below the police radar in Malta given its small size, however raise questions over the need for such extensive social media surveillance.
Questions over what the authorities are doing with such data, how many arrests have been made with the assistance of Facebook user data and the kind of crimes the authorities are using Facebook to investigate are among the most obvious.
Facebook approves 71.1 per cent of Malta’s requests
Facebook also reported that 71.1 per cent of Malta’s requests for data were approved to some degree, with 28.9 per cent being rejected. This places Malta among the higher tiers of governments whose requests have been accepted, lending weight to the worthiness of the Maltese government’s requests.
As Facebook explains, “We have strict processes in place to handle these government requests. Every request we receive is checked for legal sufficiency. We require officials to provide a detailed description of the legal and factual basis for their request, and we push back when we find legal deficiencies or overly broad or vague demands for information. We frequently share only basic subscriber information.”
Malta’s approval rate ranks fairly high when taking into account the requests for data relative to the population. Such a high approval rating suggests that the Maltese authorities are, by and large, legitimate ones.
Many factors may influence the frequency of government data requests. One reason for Malta’s world-leading amount of user data requests may be the country’s rampant use of the social networking site, which is also among the world’s largest. It could also be relative to Malta’s more limited surveillance and data tracking resources when compared with larger countries such as the US or the UK.
Other possible reasons for the government’s high level of and increased Facebook ‘snooping’ activities may include higher perceived threats, such as those related to the high influx of North Africans after Malta’s consulate in Algeria issued thousands of visas under dubious circumstances and after the Joe Sammut Libyan residency permit scandal, or possibly to keep tabs on certain individuals ahead of last month’s Valletta Migration Summit and CHOGM.
This is not the first time that Malta has made headlines for its high surveillance levels. In 2013 Vodafone disclosed that the company supported a total of 3,773 requests from Maltese law enforcement agencies for access to communications data.