Google Remains Under Fire Of EU Privacy Regulators Over ‘Right To Be Forgotten’ Takedown Requests

For as impactful as Google has been on the world in a positive manner, it takes its fair share of flack. From privacy concerns to revamping its search algorithms, plenty of people aren't the fondest of Google. Over in the European Union, privacy officials have continued to slam Google regarding its "takedown" program. Essentially, Google has created a form whereby individuals in the EU can request to have search results tied to their name removed from Google's pages in their native territory.

Now, these officials are up in arms about Google's decision to "notify publishers when removing links to personal data." This all stems from the Right to be Forgotten ruling from a few weeks ago. Now, officials want to understand what legal reasons it has for justifying the informing of publishers.


To date, Google has taken down links in response to around half of the requests it has received. As of July 18th, it has received some 91,000 requests. Moreover, some regulators are upset that Google's removal doesn't include its primary .com domain, which can be viewed in the United States and elsewhere. Because they aren't removed across the system, the links are really just masked and easily found elsewhere.

This argument won't soon end, so far as we see it. These are some of the discussions that are arising due to living in a connected society where the Internet has the potential to remember everything into perpetuity. It's a wild world, but as we've seen, one to be cautious of.