Google Starts Deleting Search Results in Europe After Ruling

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By Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai2014-06-26 14:44:20 UTC

For Google in Europe, it's time to forget. The search giant began removing search results on Thursday, following the controversial "Right to be Forgotten" ruling last month.

See also: What Europe's 'Right to Be Forgotten' Means for Google (and You)

When searching for names using a localized search engine like Google.es or Google.co.uk, the company displays a notice at the end of the page, saying that some search results "may have been removed."

Google doesn't indicate which individual links have been removed. And the notice is displayed for most names — not just those who have actually made a request "to be forgotten."

The notice at the end of a search result on Google.co.uk for Mario Costeja Gonzales, the Spaniard whose lawsuit led to the ruling that established the Right to be Forgotten in Europe

"We’re showing this notice in Europe when a user searches for most names, not just pages that have been affected by a removal," Google said in a FAQ.

In May, Europe's top court ruled that netizens had the right to ask search engines to remove outdated and irrelevant information that is not in the public interest.

Google has already received more than 50,000 requests, which Europeans can submit via an online form, and the company has a significant backlog to process, according to Google's European spokesperson Al Verney.

"Each request has to be assessed individually," Verney said.

The search giant has also started to notify users who have requested links to be removed, The Wall Street Journal reports.

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Topics: data privacy, europe, Internet Law, privacy, right to be forgotten, US & World, World