Google starts removing search results at users’ request

Google has started removing search results from people who use the ‘right to be forgotten’. Search engines have to do this following the ruling of a European Court last month.

The first emails to users letting them know that search results have been removed went out on Thursday, Google told The Wall Street Journal. Only this week were the removals technically possible; that was not possible until now.

To have a search result removed, users must fill out a form. It is unknown how many people have already done so. In this way, users can have a search result taken offline that could harm them, for example, in future job applications. The sites or pages themselves do not disappear.

The measure is the result of a ruling by the European Court of Justice. In addition, the Court says that what matters is that the search results violate privacy law and Europeans should therefore have the right ‘to be forgotten’. The case involved a Spaniard whose house had been auctioned off years ago for debt; those search results kept coming up.

The Court has taken into account the fact that search engines bundle information from multiple sites in the results. “The information potentially relates to many aspects of private life that would have been impossible or only very difficult to relate without the search engine,” the ruling reads. This would enable internet users to draw up a detailed profile of the persons searched for. Another important aspect of the possible infringement is the major role of the internet and search engines today, which can ensure great availability of the information.