(Image source from: Government agencies turning to Twitter for inside dope})

The Australian government seems to have taken the phrase “a little birdie told me” a little too seriously.

As per the latest Transparency Report issued by Twitter, the Australian government has been repeatedly approaching the social media site for private information about users.

Apparently the Aussie authorities have queried about 58 users so far in 2013 as compared to 10 in 2012.

“Only the United States and Japanese governments sought information about more accounts”, Twitter revealed.

In fact, the social media site has received inquiry request from as many as 35 different governments  since 2012, after it launched its transparency reports.

It received a total of 1157 requests from 26 different governments including Canada, Germany, the Netherlands and Turkey between January and June, 2013. More than 900 of the requests came from the US alone.

The government agency inquiries were primarily made in respect to criminal investigations, and users were primarily notified about it unless prohibited by law.

AW: Suchorita Dutta