Reddit removes passage about secret government requests from report

Reddit removed a passage from its 2015 transparency report about how it had never had secret requests for data from the US government. That passage was still in the 2014 report. That indicates that such a request has taken place.

The passage that Reddit had never had a request for information can be found in the 2014 report under “national security requests.” That entire paragraph is missing from the 2015 report. That seems to indicate that the U.S. government requested data from Reddit through a National Security Letter or through the electronic espionage law FISA, but the site declined to confirm. Reddit director Steve Hofman says the site is walking a “thin line” even with the passage removed, meaning the United States government may have trouble removing the passage.

If the US government submits a request for data via a National Security Letter or via the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, to a company like Reddit, companies are not allowed to say anything about it or even confirm that such a request has taken place. Deleting the passage can serve as confirmation. In practice, those requests often come from the FBI or NSA.

It is unknown what data the US government wanted to see. Some users point out that whistleblower Edward Snowden did some ama interviews on Reddit last year. The government might be interested in the metadata of Snowden’s account.

As far as non-secret requests are concerned, Reddit is allowed to make requests public, and it has done so in its report. In total, it received 98 requests in 2015, a sharp increase from 55 in 2014. The vast majority of those requests, 77, came from the US government.