Facebook: We have not given user data to Turkish authorities

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been criticized for violently cracking down on protesters rallying against the government in recent weeks. Earlier this month the White House voiced “serious concerns” over reports of violence used against protesters.

{mosads}Facebook said it also has concerns about proposed legislation in Turkey that would require Internet companies to provide more information to law enforcement authorities. The company said it would express their concerns with the legislation directly with Turkish representatives during meetings in Silicon Valley this week.

In the wake of the revelations over the National Security Agency surveillance programs, Facebook released data on the thousands of government requests for user data it receives. This is the first time the social network released such figures.

Facebook said it received between 9,000 and 10,000 government requests during the last six months of 2012, which were tied to 18,000 and 19,000 user accounts.