CTVNEWS

Brazil gov't leads all in Google content removal requests

The Associated Press Published Wednesday, June 29, 2011 12:54PM EDT

Jeferson Gomes, 24, controls a soccer ball atop a barrel along a street in downtown Sao Paulo, Brazil, Wednesday, June 29, 2011. (AP Photo/Nelson Antoine)

Text:

SAO PAULO, Brazil - Google says that Brazilian government made more content removal requests than any other nation in the second half of last year.

Google says the Brazilian government made 263 requests that content be removed from one of the company's web services. South Korea was second with 139 requests.

Google complied with 76 per cent of the Brazilian requests. They covered more than 12,300 items online.

Brazil has led such government requests since Google started making the data available in 2009.

That's mostly because Google's social network site Orkut is popular in Brazil.

National elections last year also influenced Brazil's latest figures. Stringent election laws result in many requests for content removal related to campaigns.