Google removes results filehoster Rapidgator from search service

Google has removed a large number of search results referring to files on the cyberlocker service Rapidgator due to copyright infringement. Among the removed links would be a large number of references to legal content.

According to TorrentFreak, Rapidgator has again fallen victim to an over-rigid Google cleanup operation. The search engine removes links to illegal content in response to dmca requests from copyright holders such as film and music publishers. However, mistakes are regularly made, as a result of which references to legal content are also removed during a cleaning operation.

Google’s latest mistake was made with dmca requests from the British Publishers Association. Several takedown notices are said to relate to content that is completely legal. The administrators of the filehoster would have previously filed complaints with Google, but despite this, the search engine continues to delete legal links.

Websites like Rapidgator lose a lot of visitors by removing download links. However, Google states that it receives a flood of dmca requests and sometimes makes mistakes. For example, the internet company had to remove more than two million links to the Swedish domain of The Pirate Bay in recent years.