The government made 316 requests for information from Facebook last year but the social media giant refused to comply in a quarter of the cases.

Twice a year, Facebook gives a breakdown of how many times government officials ask for information about content on the social networking site.

According to the data for last year, 144 requests were made by the Maltese government during the first six months and another 172 made in the second half.

In asking for information, the government indicated 455 accounts or users.

In its 2016 Government Requests Report, Facebook noted it had refused to disclose “at least some data” in about 25 per cent of the requests.

Facebook said government officials occasionally asked for data about its users. In most cases, governments would request basic subscriber information, such as name and duration of service.

They could also ask for IP address logs or account content.

In some instances, Facebook would be asked to restrict access to content if it was deemed to violate a country’s laws. Facebook said it would only comply after scrutinising the content to confirm it was indeed breaking laws. No such requests were made by the Maltese government last year.

Every request for information is “checked for legal sufficiency” with the applicants asked to provide a detailed description of the “legal and factual basis for their request”.

When legal deficiencies are noticed or the demands are deemed too vague, the social media platform said it would turn down the request.

Three emergency requests were made by the Maltese authorities in the year under review, Facebook reported, adding that data was provided in two of the cases.

Emergency requests are made by law enforcement officials through an online request system when investigating cases that involve imminent harm to a child or if a person is believed to be at risk of death or serious physical injury.