Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) Reports Government Data Requests Are Declining

Unlike fellow tech giants Apple and Google, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is seeing less customer data requests from law enforcement and other government agencies across the globe. Microsoft has revealed that the number of such requests dropped to a five-year low in 2017.

CNET has the details on Microsoft’s report.

Microsoft released its biannual transparency report Thursday, revealing that 2017 set a record low when it comes to requests for customer data from governments worldwide.
Tech giants like Microsoft, Apple and Google often have to deal with such requests, whether they’re related to law enforcement concerns or national security. These companies usually release transparency reports twice a year, documenting how many requests came from January to June, and from July to December.

For the year, Microsoft reports that it received a shade over 48,000 requests of this nature. To put that number in perspective, Google received about the same number of requests for just the first half of last year.

In addition, both Google and Apple reported a record number of requests in 2017. While the number of requests for Microsoft last year appears to be an outlier, it’s still a substantial drop from just 2016, when the company received more than 61,000 requests of that nature.

Microsoft Corporation shares rose $0.29 (+0.31%) in premarket trading Monday. Year-to-date, MSFT has gained 11.58%, versus a 0.31% rise in the benchmark S&P 500 index during the same period.

MSFT currently has a StockNews.com POWR Rating of A (Strong Buy), and is ranked #1 of 65 stocks in the Software – Application category.