Note: By submitting this form, you agree to Third Door Media's terms. We respect your privacy.

Facebook & YouTube Are Top Sites With Content Removed From Google Under “Right To Be Forgotten”

Google now sharing figures with the public via its Transparency Report area

Greg Sterling on October 10, 2014 at 3:31 pm

Google is now sharing details about Right To Be Forgotten removals in a new section of its pre-existing Google Transparency Report area. The latest numbers show that Facebook, ProfileEngine.com and Google’s own YouTube are the top three sites to have content taken down through the new European system.

In the new section, Google breaks out the requests and removals by country. Overall Google said it had evaluated 497,695 URLs for removal as part of 144,954 RTBF requests. The company also said it had removed nearly 42 percent of requested URLs:

That is pretty close to the data provided by Reputation VIP, which we covered earlier.

The countries with the lowest percentage of RTBF requests granted were Italy and Portugal, with just over 24 percent. The countries with the highest percentage of requests allowed and links removed were Germany, France and Austria with between 50 and 54 percent.

Google also provides multiple examples by country of the types of requests being submitted. Here are three:

Google has removed over 4,100 links to YouTube and Google groups URLs in response to takedown requests. As such it’s the entity with the most removals granted against it.

Facebook is the individual site that has seen the most RTBF requests granted, with more than 3300 URLs de-indexed since the formal process was implemented several months ago. It’s followed by ProfileEngine.com with 3,289 removals and YouTube with 2,392:

About The Author

Greg Sterling

Greg Sterling is a Contributing Editor at Search Engine Land. He writes a personal blog, Screenwerk, about connecting the dots between digital media and real-world consumer behavior. He is also VP of Strategy and Insights for the Local Search Association. Follow him on Twitter or find him at Google+.