One in 10 ‘right to be forgotten’ requests come from UK

Following the introduction in May of a link removal form to comply with the EU “right to be forgotten” law, Google has released a Transparency Report revealing data on the percentage of URLs that have been reviewed and processed by the company.

The report shows that Google has received a total of 18,646 requests from the UK for URLs to be removed; and that individuals with a relationship to the UK have made requests for 63,616 URLs to be removed. These figures are the third highest in Europe, follwing France and Germany. Google has removed 35% of URLs requested in the UK, and 42% in Europe overall.

Facebook is the domain with the highest number of removed URLs in Europe, followed by profileengine.com and You Tube.

Google also provided some examples of requests for removal, alongside its decision. According to the BBC, Google turned down requests from a former clergyman for two articles about an investigation into sexual abuse accusations to be removed, and a request from a UK “media professional” for four links to articles reporting on “embarrassing content he posted to the internet” to be removed.