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 2019

Requests

LINE received 1,671(1,684) requests in total.
Disclosures(Handled Requests)

79(78)% of requests were fulfilled(handled).
Targeted Contact Information

Data related to 1,623 pieces of contact information were disclosed.(1,619 instances of contact information disclosure)
Law
Enforcement

Requests from Japanese law enforcement accounted for 83% of the total

From July to December 2019, LINE received 1,671(1,684) requests from law enforcement agencies all over the world. This marks an increase of 3(4)% from the previous period. Information was disclosed in 1,316(1,313) requests (a 79(78)% disclosure rate) for an increase of 2% from the previous period in the total number of disclosures.
32% of disclosures(requests) were related to incidents involving children. The main reasons for making requests varied by location. In Japan, most disclosures(requests) were related to incidents involving children (37(36)%). In Taiwan, most disclosures(requests) were related to financial harm (42%).
The increase of fulfilled disclosure(handled) requests (27(25)% up comparing to the previous period) was resulted from the increase of requests made from Taiwan (53% up comparing to the previous period.)
Data related to 1,623pieces of contact information were(Information on 1,619 accounts was) disclosed as part of the 1,316(1,313) requests that LINE fulfilled. This is a ratio of 1.23 pieces of contact information(accounts) per fulfilled request. This ratio is around the same level as the previous period's ratio (1.25 pieces of contact information per fulfilled request)(Each request involved 1.25 accounts on average—not a significant change from the previous period).
This period marked the first time since LINE began compiling statistics that a request was received from Sweden. LINE began compiling statistics in 2016 and has received requests from 16 countries and regions to date.
Most(The majority of) requests came from Japanese (83%) and Taiwanese (14%) law enforcement agencies. This fits with the numbers from 2016 (the first year LINE began compiling statistics)—87% of requests came from Japan, 10% of requests came from Taiwan.
For every one million monthly active users in Japan, data related to 16.7 pieces of contact information were(information on 17.5 accounts was) disclosed to law enforcement. For every one million monthly active users in Taiwan, data related to 11.8 pieces of contact information were(information on 9.1 accounts was) disclosed to law enforcement.

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.
The reports prior to and including Jan-Jun 2018 cover data related to the LINE messaging app only. The reports for Jul-Dec 2018 and onward cover data related to all services that LINE Corporation provides. Any data from services provided by LINE subsidiaries and affiliates is not included in the report.
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

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

Japan Disclosure Requests
Requests		1,393(1,399)
Disclosures(Data Provided)	Warrants	1,133
	Investigation -Related Inquiries	2
	Emergencies (*1)	4(3)
Targeted Contact Information		1,371(1,370)

South Korea Disclosure Requests
Requests		35
Disclosures(Data Provided)	Warrants	5
	Investigation -Related Inquiries	-
	Emergencies (*1)	0
Targeted Contact Information		5

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

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

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

Taiwan Disclosure Requests
Requests		237(244)
Disclosures(Data Provided)	Warrants	172(170)
	Investigation -Related Inquiries	-
	Emergencies (*1)	0
Targeted Contac Information		247(244)

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		1,671(1,684)
Disclosures(Data Provided)	Warrants	1,310(1,308)
	Investigation -Related Inquiries	2
	Emergencies (*1)	4(3)
Targeted Contact Information		1,623(1,619)

Disclosure Requests - total
	Requests	Disclosures(Data Provided)			Targeted Contact Information
	Requests	Warrants	Investigation -Related Inquiries	Emergencies (*1)	Targeted Contact Information
Germany	1	0	-	0	0
Japan	1,393(1,399)	1,133	2	4(3)	1,371(1,370)
South Korea	35	5	-	0	5
Singapore	1	0	-	0	0
Spain	1	0	-	0	0
Sweden	1	0	-	0	0
Taiwan	237(244)	172(170)	-	0	247(244)
United States	2	0	-	0	0
Total	1,671(1,684)	1,310(1,308)	2	4(3)	1,623(1,619)

(*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:
- Restrict the Friend search function for minors;
- Distribute educational materials to minors, guardians, and educators, and run programs promoting information ethics and literacy for students via LINE MIRAI Foundation;
- Established Social Media Association of Japan (former Council for Development of an Environment that Provides Safe and Secure Internet Use for Young People);
- Conducted a survey in collaboration with the Board of Education to understand the way internet is used among youths; and
- Engage in collaborative research with universities and other research institutions to prevent harm to children.

Deletion Requests

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

For details on this report, see here.
If you are an investigating authority and wish to request LINE to disclose or delete user information, please refer to this guide.