British police authorities ordered the removal of 135 videos from YouTube in the first half of this year because of a perceived threat to national security, according to figures published by the video sharing website's owner Google.
The US technology giant reported a 71% rise in content removal requests from the UK government or police, compared with the final half of 2010, with almost 200 YouTube videos requested to be taken down following complaints about privacy, security or hate speech.
Google revealed the figures in its biannual transparency report, part of an effort to highlight online censorship across the world.
The report shows that private information about 1,443 British users or accounts was demanded by law enforcement agencies between January and June this year. It is the first time Google has revealed how many users the data requests relate to.
Google received 1,273 overall requests for user data in the period, compared with 1,162 requests for information in the second half of 2010.
The UK government made 65 content removal requests from all of Google's products in the six months to June, up from 38 requests in the previous half year.
Fears over national security saw take down requests for 135 videos from YouTube, with a further 62 for privacy, security or hate speech issues.
Almost 30 items were requested to be removed from Google search after two court orders relating to privacy and security, the report shows, with 14 items because of defamation issues.
Google said it fully or partially complied with 82% of requests from the UK government, police and courts.
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