WHAT IS THE RUSSIAN FOR FACEBOOK? There is no arguing against figures like these but, at the same time, reputation does count for something. In order to maintain it, the Internet companies have taken to publishing regular “transparency reports” with information on how they are interacting with governments. Let us turn to Google’s report. We find Russia included in the section on “Government requests to remove content”. During the last reporting period, January-July 2014, Google received 745 requests from official Russian agencies. (The number has been increasing steadily: in the second half of 2013 it was just 324.) Of these, slander, pornography, threats of violence, discriminatory statements (what, in American law, is called “hate speech”) and copyright infringement each account for 1%. Criticism of the government accounts for 3%; national security, 4%; advocacy of suicide, 7%; use of drugs, 80%. Of the requests from official agencies in Russia, 92% were satisfied. 76% of requests referring to a court judgement were granted. The report provides examples of requests from governments and the decisions taken on them. Request: Russia's regional ISP Rostelecom informed us of a court decision ordering ISPs to block access to 2 blog posts containing extremist religious speech. Outcome: We removed both blog posts from the blogspot.ru domain. Or: Request: The MVD (Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs) requested removal of 8 Google Play apps referencing 3 entries in the Russian Federal List of Extremist Materials for 3 Islamic prayer books. These books are prohibited under the Russian Anti-Extremism law. Outcome: We restricted access to the 8 apps in Russia. From July to December 2014, 134 requests were received from Russia for disclosure of personal data of 220 users. Of these, Google granted 5%, but it is impossible to establish what exactly these requests were, or what considerations the company took into account when satisfying some but not others. The information is too limited. Facebook publishes a transparency report also, but it is even less transparent than Google’s. These are the statistics for the second half of 2014: Number of pages blocked at the request of Roskomnadzor – 55. Reasons: “content promoting drug use and self-harm; extremist activities, unsanctioned large-scale riots/marches; and the undermining of the integrity of the Russian Federation.” Number of requests for personal data – 2. Complied with, 0%. 3