Microsoft: Yes, We Do Send Takedown Requests To Bing, Too

Microsoft says it does send copyright-related takedown requests to its own search engine, Bing, in addition to the multitude of requests that it sends to Google. This comes on the heels of yesterday’s news that Microsoft is the number one submitter of copyright-related URL removal requests to Google. It sent more than 500,000 such requests […]

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bing-b-logoMicrosoft says it does send copyright-related takedown requests to its own search engine, Bing, in addition to the multitude of requests that it sends to Google.

This comes on the heels of yesterday’s news that Microsoft is the number one submitter of copyright-related URL removal requests to Google. It sent more than 500,000 such requests in the past month, asking Google to remove URLs that host pirated copies of Microsoft products and other copyright-infringing material.

TechDirt pointed out that some of the URLs that Microsoft asked Google to remove were still appearing in Bing’s search results.

A Microsoft spokesperson explained that to us today, saying that it’s because the infringing URLs hadn’t been indexed in Bing when the takedown notices were sent:

Microsoft sends takedown notices to search engines, including Bing, only after it verifies that content has been indexed. At the time of the takedown notice in question, the link to the particular piece of infringing content was not included in Bing’s search results.

The TorrentRoom.com URL that TechDirt showed as listed in Bing yesterday is no longer showing in Bing’s index.

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In this case, then, it appears that Google’s speed in indexing URLs — which it often does more quickly than Bing — is the main reason why Google had received the takedown request in question before Bing did.

But I have to add … Bing isn’t going to make many friends with related searches like the one above that helps searchers find a site to download Spartacus.


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About the author

Matt McGee
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Matt McGee joined Third Door Media as a writer/reporter/editor in September 2008. He served as Editor-In-Chief from January 2013 until his departure in July 2017. He can be found on Twitter at @MattMcGee.

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