Google shared some new numbers related to the “right to be forgotten,” ruling, which has led to individuals requesting URL removals from search results. For all the background on that, peruse our coverage here.
The stats appear on Google’s Transparency Report, where Google explains:
In a May 2014 ruling, Google Spain v AEPD and Mario Costeja González, the Court of Justice of the European Union found that individuals have the right to ask search engines like Google to remove certain results about them. The court decided that search engines must assess each individual’s request for removal and that a search engine can only continue to display certain results where there is a public interest in doing so. For more information about our process and the data we’re providing here, please visit our FAQ.
The company reveals it has evaluated 497,695 URLs for removal. It has received a total of 144,954 requests.
Google also gives examples of requests it encounters. One involves a woman that requested Google remove a decades-old article about her husband’s murder, which included her name. The page has been removed for search results for her name.
In another example, a financial professional in Switzerland asked Google to remove over 10 links to pages reporting on his arrest and conviction for financial crimes. Google did not remove pages from search results in those cases.
A rape victim in Germany asked Google to remove a link to a newspaper article about the crime, which Google did in search results for the person’s name.
According to the company, the sites that are most impacted by the URL removals are Facebook, ProfileEngine, YouTube, Badoo, Google Groups, Yasni.de, Wherevent.com, 192.com, yasni.fr, and yatedo.fr.
Image via Google