A new analysis from Swiss privacy firm Proton found that government-backed requests for user data from Apple, Google, and Meta have increased.
Big Tech companies hand over the personal data of millions of their users to US authorities, a new analysis has found.
The Swiss privacy company Protonanalysed public data fromGoogle,Apple, andMeta transparency reports regarding the number of user accounts that have been shared with US authorities between 2014 and 2024.
On average, the companies increased the number of accounts shared with US law enforcement by over 600 per cent for a total of 3.1 million in the last decade, it found.
The data from Proton’s report “shows a growing appetite from the US government to take advantage of Big Tech’s massive data reserves,” the company said in a press release.
The findings don’t criticise the policies of Big Tech companies because they have to comply with law enforcement requests, but Proton argues that encryption would protect that information from “government intrusion”.
What compels US companies to hand over data?
Law enforcement can access Meta userdata through a subpoena, court order, or search warrant.
A valid search warrant with probable cause could grant law enforcement access to user messages, photos, videos, timeline posts, and location information.
The US government can also use a national securityletter under a foreign intelligence act to compel companies like Google to provide them with user information and possibly content from Google Drive, Gmail, and Photos.
Meta said in its safetycentre that it sometimes provides law enforcement with information that will “help them respond to emergencies, including those that involve the immediate risk of harm, suicide prevention and the recovery of missing children”.
Every request Meta receives is “carefully reviewed for legalsufficiency,” and it can “reject or require greater specificity” on requests that are broad or vague.
When law enforcement asks for data on a specific user, Google sends them an email before disclosing any relevant information, unless the request is made “in case of an emergency,” like child safety threats or other threats to life.
Google said it willdecide on foreign government requests for data on a case-by-case basis if they meet the requirements for US law, domestic law, company policy, and international norms.
Euronews Next contacted Apple, Google, and Meta about Proton’s report but did not receive immediate replies.
How do European governments compare?
The Proton report comes as Dutch experts warnedEuronews Next of national security issues because many ministries use cloud services operated by the US tech companies.
One of their main concerns is the Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data Act (CLOUD) that was passed during US President Donald Trump’s first mandate. It allows law enforcement to subpoena US-based technology companies for data stored on any server in the world to help them investigate serious crimes.
Globally, there are increasingly more government requests for user information, according to a Google transparency report.
By mid-2024, Google data showsthat world governments submitted over 235,000 requests for user information concerning half a million accounts, up from the 100,000 requests on 235,000 accounts filed in the first part of 2020.
Many European governments have increased their requests to Google for user data since the beginning of 2020, according to a Google report.
For example, Google datashows that the German government submitted over 12,600 requests in January 2020 and 41,000 requests for information in mid-2024.
On the other hand, some countries such as France, Italy, the Netherlands, Malta, Romania, Slovakia and Turkey have not increased their requests for information to Google, the data showed.
