Putrajaya has made more requests for user data from Facebook in the first half of this year compared to the whole of last year.

The Malaysian government made a total of 19 requests for data on 35 user accounts from January to June this year, Facebook's Government Requests Report said.

In comparison, Malaysia only made 17 requests last year, for data on 25 users.

Of the requests made in the first half of 2016, Facebook divulged some data on 68.4 percent of the requests.

"As part of official investigations, government officials sometimes request data about people who use Facebook. The vast majority of these requests relate to criminal cases, such as robberies or kidnappings.

"In many of these cases, the government is requesting basic subscriber information, such as name and length of service. Requests may also ask for IP address logs or account content," Facebook wrote in an explainer for the reports.

The report did not state explicitly what each of the request governments made were for.

Among Asean countries, Malaysia made the third highest number of requests for the first half of this year.

Singapore made the most requests at 233, followed by Indonesia at 21 requests.

The Philippines made three requests, while Thailand only made one request.

Malaysia has been stepping up policing of cyberspace in recent years, including using Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act (CMA) last year - which penalises "improper use of network facilities" - to take action against socal media comments deemed offensive.

Last year the number of reported charges under Section 233 of the CMA rose from none in 2014 to 20 in 2015 - the highest number of reported charges in a year thus far.

Seventeen of those charges last year were for insulting royalty.

Environmental activist Shariffa Sabrina Syed Akil and her assistant was yesterday released from remand after arrested for allegedly insulting the Johor royal family on Facebook.