Google and Microsoft received some 230 requests for information about local accounts from the Maltese authorities in 2013 and 2014, according to their latest transparency reports.

The requests, which may have been made by the Maltese courts, police or the government, were mostly accepted, and the international communications firms said they had handed over “partial data” for three quarters of the local requests.

Both companies said the information provided was related to transaction of communications rather than the actual messages themselves. This means that rather than the content of messages and e-mails being given to investigators, the companies told about who the messages had been sent to, when and where.

Read more on Times of Malta.

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