According to a new report released by Facebook, governments from various countries have asked for information on about a combined 38,000 Facebook users during the first six months of the year.

The Global Government Requests Report released by the social networking giant for the first time on Tuesday showed that the company received official requests from 74 countries. The data showed that the US government made the highest number of requests on between 20,000 and 21,000 users during the period.

The figures released for the US are in the range as the government does not allow the companies to release the exact number of requests. UK authorities requested the social network to provide data on 2,337 users, the report showed. The company said that the company will continue to work towards greater disclosure.

"We hope this report will be useful to our users in the ongoing debate about the proper standards for government requests for user information in official investigations. And while we view this compilation as an important first report
- it will not be our last," wrote Facebook lawyer Colin Stretch.

Facebook has said that it will release the report every six months to bring to attention the stringent processes.