LINE Transparency Report

[October 18, 2021] It came to our notice that there were some errors in the compilation of figures in this report, and we have since corrected these errors. Corrections are indicated in red (previously disclosed information is in brackets).
Press release regarding this correction: https://linecorp.com/en/pr/news/en/2021/3934

User Information Disclosure/Deletion Requests From Law Enforcement

Cases User Information is Provided

Summary of July–December 2017

Requests

LINE received 1,384(1,390) requests in total.
Disclosures(Handled Requests)

77(76)% of requests were fulfilled(handled).
Targeted Contact Information

Data related to 1,345 pieces of contact information were disclosed.(1,345 instances of contact information disclosure)
Law
Enforcement

Requests from Japanese law enforcement accounted for 88(89)% of the total.

Report Notes

This report covers information on the number of disclosure requests from law enforcement made to LINE and the number of cases which were actually disclosed in this period.
This report includes requests related to the LINE messaging app only.
LINE complies with disclosure requests from Japanese law enforcement when at least one of the following legal grounds is met:
- Warrant (Code of Criminal Procedure): A document issued by a court that permits or orders seizure, inspection or other activities.
- Investigation-Related Inquiry (Code of Criminal Procedure): An information disclosure request from law enforcement to a business operator or other entity for aiding in an investigation.
- Emergency (Penal Code): An emergency action taken when a human life or rights are under threat. For LINE(In the case of LINE), this means identifying a relevant user when, for example, a bomb threat or suicide threat is made.
“Warrants” and “Investigation-Related Inquiries” include requests received originally as “Emergencies” but fulfilled(handled) in accordance with corresponding procedures for relevant legal documents.
LINE(The person in charge of LINE) will only cooperate with criminal investigations in accordance with strict information handling rules, and only when a thorough verification confirms the legality or overall(and) propriety of the investigation.
A single request may include(contain) multiple pieces of contact information.
LINE fulfills(handles) requests from non-Japanese law enforcement according to the Act on International Assistance, the mutual legal assistance treaties (MLATs) of relevant countries and other international investigation assistance frameworks. This includes instances where the Japanese police receive a request via the International Criminal Police Organization (ICPO) or Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs receives a request via an embassy. The same rules regarding warrants and verification by privacy protection organizations and other handling rules still apply.
"Targeted Contact Information" indicates the specific user contact information (phone number, LINE ID, etc.) that authorities identified as relevant to their investigation(suspect are involved in crime).

Disclosure Requests

Japan Disclosure Requests
Requests		1,224(1,232)
Disclosures(Data Provided)	Warrants	943(942)
	Investigation -Related Inquiries	0
	Emergencies (*1)	1
Targeted Contact Information		1,160

Singapore Disclosure Requests
Requests		2
Disclosures(Data Provided)	Warrants	0
	Investigation -Related Inquiries	-
	Emergencies (*1)	0
Targeted Contact Information		0

South Korea Disclosure Requests
Requests		28(26)
Disclosures(Data Provided)	Warrants	1
	Investigation -Related Inquiries	-
	Emergencies (*1)	0
Targeted Contact Information		2

Spain Disclosure Requests
Requests		1
Disclosures(Data Provided)	Warrants	0
	Investigation -Related Inquiries	-
	Emergencies (*1)	0
Targeted Contac Information		0

Taiwan Disclosure Requests
Requests		127
Disclosures(Data Provided)	Warrants	117(114)
	Investigation -Related Inquiries	-
	Emergencies (*1)	0
Targeted Contact Information		183

United States Disclosure Requests
Requests		2
Disclosures(Data Provided)	Warrants	0
	Investigation -Related Inquiries	-
	Emergencies (*1)	0
Targeted Contact Information		0

Total Disclosure Requests
Requests		1,384(1,390)
Disclosures(Data Provided)	Warrants	1,061(1,057)
	Investigation -Related Inquiries	0
	Emergencies (*1)	1
Targeted Contact Information		1,345

Disclosure Requests - total
	Requests	Disclosures(Data Provided)			Targeted Contact Information
	Requests	Warrants	Investigation -Related Inquiries	Emergencies (*1)	Targeted Contact Information
Japan	1,224(1,232)	943(942)	0	1	1,160
Singapore	2	0	-	0	0
South Korea	28(26)	1	-	0	2
Spain	1	0	-	0	0
Taiwan	127	117(114)	-	0	183
United States	2	0	-	0	0
Total	1,384(1,390)	1,061(1,057)	0	1	1,345

(*1) Includes cases where we discovered crime or self-harm threats through Timeline monitoring and notified the police based on the urgency of the matter.

The breakdown of disclosures is as follows:

Most of the disclosures(The majority of the requests) involved children (violations of municipal ordinances concerning youth protection, violations of dating site regulations, child prostitution, child pornography, child abuse etc.). In order to protect children from crime and provide an environment that is safe to use, LINE carries out initiatives such as the following in Japan and other countries:
- Restrict the Friend search function for minors
- Distribute educational materials to minors, guardians, and educators
- Conduct workshops and lectures at schools
- Established a "Committee to Prepare and Maintain an Environment for Youths to Use the Internet"
- Conducted a survey in collaboration with the Board of Education to understand the way internet is used among youths.

Deletion Requests

No effective deletion request has been received from the authorities during this period.

For details on this report, see here