The Australian government is increasingly asking Twitter for private information about users, new data released by the social media site reveals.
Australian authorities asked Twitter for information on 58 users in the first six months of 2013, compared with fewer than 10 in the second half of 2012.
Only the US and Japanese governments sought information about more accounts, the transparency report released on Thursday showed.
Twitter gave Australian authorities what they sought in 25 per cent of cases compared with 67 per cent in the US.
Requests are usually made in connection with criminal investigations, and users are normally notified of the request unless prohibited by law, the company said.
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The data showed the Australian government made fewer than 10 individual requests but each one can relate to more than one user.
The figures may include double-up requests, the company said.
An Australian Twitter representative could not provide a more exact figure.
The company received a total of 1157 requests from 26 governments, 902 of which came from the US.
The number has steadily risen in each of the three transparency reports issued since the firm began publishing them in 2012.
"Twitter remains steadfastly committed to being transparent about requests we've received and the resulting actions we've taken," said Jeremy Kessel, Twitter's manager of legal policy, in a blog post.
