DMCA as a weapon: How to fight fraudulent takedown claims
A fraudulent DMCA notice can cost you search visibility. Here’s what to document, how to file a counter-notice, and when to escalate.
Topic: Censorship
Google removes Search Engine Land article after false DMCA claim
Our report on Clickout Media's AI-driven gambling sites vanished from Google after a dubious copyright claim.
U.S. House passes bill forcing TikTok owner to divest or face nationwide ban
TikTok owner ByteDance will have six months to divest the social media platform or risk losing its 150 million U.S. users if the bill becomes law.
TikTok faces fresh calls for potential ban by U.S. Senators
New legislation could require ByteDance, TikTok's owner, to sell the app within six months or face a U.S. ban.
TikTok is restricting hashtags in Creative Center
The functionality of some hashtag links has been disabled, potentially affecting the precision of trend popularity measurements.
FCC tells Google, Apple to remove TikTok
The social media app is once again in hot water as more than 80 internal meetings show that user data has been breached.
Platforms that have suspended ads in Russia
In addition to political and economic sanctions, the conflict in Ukraine has prompted many crucial platforms to cut off advertiser access to Russian audiences.
Here’s the content Google aims to keep out of featured snippets
If you want to show in Google's featured snippets, be sure you're clear on the content policies for them.
EU copyright directive poised to become law, includes licensing fees for search engines
Controversial 'link tax' and content filtering provisions part of the final language of the Directive.
Top European court to decide if Google needs to purge disputed links from global index
French regulators have argued that the "right to be forgotten" is not fully enforceable unless content is removed worldwide.
Two major changes potentially coming to EU’s Right to Be Forgotten with global implications
Authorities in France considering automatic delisting for "sensitive personal data" and forcing global index removal.
Google did not ban Infowars; did rescind quality example using an Infowars article
Infowars article was used to help illustrate how quality raters might judge content, but raters have no power to censor, ban or penalize pages.
Google appeals French order to censor Right-to-Be-Forgotten links globally
Google is taking its case to France's highest administrative court.
Mississippi attorney general’s “conspiracy to censor the internet” back on as appeals court rules against Google
Google had alleged the Motion Picture Association of America was using Mississippi attorney general's action as a tool of its private interests in content takedowns.
French privacy regulator fines Google for not removing RTBF links outside of Europe
CNIL in France refuses to compromise on demand that Google remove all Right to Be Forgotten content from its entire index.
Google Agrees To Complicated Worldwide “Right To Be Forgotten” Censorship Plan
Google will ensure those within a country where a RTBF request was granted cannot find censored content, regardless of what Google edition they use.
Piracy Groups Want Google To Remove The Whole Site After Valid DMCA Filings
Google writes a letter to the United States Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator opposing whole-site removal over DMCA complaints.
UK Regulator To Google: You Must De-Index Follow-Up Stories About Right To Be Forgotten Subjects
The European “hide me, find me” SEO game that is the Right to Be Forgotten (RTBF) continues to twist and turn. The latest twist is that Google has been ordered by a UK regulator to remove links that were indexed after subsequent news articles appeared about the subject of the original RTBF de-indexing. The Guardian […]
UK Paper Argues Right To Be Forgotten Being Abused In Some Cases
While the majority of Right to Be Forgotten (RTBF) take-down requests in Europe do not seek to conceal criminal misdeeds, the UK-based Daily Mail argues that in some cases it’s being abused by those trying to suppress criminal records. The publication cites several egregious examples where criminals have had links successfully removed: Examples of links […]
SearchCap: Canada Censors Google, France Right To Be Forgotten & Local SEO
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Canadian Appeals Court Orders Google To Censor Globally Ruling comes in same week that France demands that Google institute worldwide censorship. VIDEO: WebCertain TV Gets The Scoop On The Search Engine […]
Canadian Appeals Court Orders Google To Censor Globally
Ruling comes in same week that France demands that Google institute worldwide censorship.
Google Japan Ordered To Remove Negative Reviews Based On Thin Evidence
Ruling appears to be based largely on affidavit signed by the doctor in question.
Google Removes “How Can I Join ISIS” Autosuggestion
Google doesn't want you to join ISIS, drops the autosuggest after BBC News notifies them of the Google Suggest fail.
EU Issues “Right To Be Forgotten” Criteria
Last week the EU issued formal guidelines surrounding the so-called “Right to Be Forgotten” (RTBF). They are intended to help privacy regulators and search engines implement the RTBF. And they include some controversial elements. I’ve embedded the full document below and won’t try and treat it comprehensively. Below are the formal considerations that the EU […]
French Court Trying To Impose Right-To-Be-Forgotten Decision On Google Worldwide
Google is facing daily fines of €1,000 in France, under a punitive ruling tied to the Right-to-Be-Forgotten (RTBF), unless it removes links to an article from its index globally, according to The Guardian. Several politicians in Europe have recently suggested that the RTBF should extend to all Google results worldwide, not just country level indexes. […]
Media Companies Republishing Google Right-To-Be-Forgotten Links
Google is notifying publishers when it de-indexes their links under the controversial “Right to Be Forgotten” (RTBF). What this does is often trigger republication of a version of the story by the media outlet or a page that indicates what URLs are being removed from the search index. Among others, that’s what the BBC has […]
“Right To Be Forgotten” To Blame For Removal Of 50 Wikipedia Links From EU Search Results
According to a release today from the Wikimedia Foundation, 50 links to its Wikipedia site have been removed from Google search results in Europe on account of the recent Right to Be Forgotten legislation. From the release: As of July 18, Google has received more than 91,000 removal requests involving more than 328,000 links; of […]
Google’s EU Censorship Removes Links For More Than Just Names On Their Own
It turns out that those in the European Union asking Google to “forget” links they don’t like that appearing for searches on their names are also getting links removed for any search that involves their names and additional words, rather than just their names alone. Until now, it wasn’t clear that Google was removing links […]
The EU’s Right To Be Forgotten Is A Mess & How Google’s Making It Worse
“The road to hell is paved with good intentions,” the saying goes. There are plenty of good intentions with the EU’s Right To Be Forgotten mandate, as well as Google’s attempt to meet new obligations under it. Things are still going to hell regardless. Thanks to the new right, the EU has helped enable convicted […]
Yes, Google Will Disclose “Right To Be Forgotten” Removals
The Guardian reports that Google may add a indication in the search results that content has been removed due to the Right To Be Forgotten European Union requirements issued last month. Google told us a couple weeks ago that they will indeed add disclosure in the search results when something is removed from their search […]
Google Co-Founder Sergey Brin: I Wish I Could Forget The “Right To Be Forgotten”
Tonight at the Re/Code conference in Southern California, Google co-founder Sergey Brin was interviewed on stage. He discussed many things, including the diverse range of “Google X” projects: indoor mapping (Tango), WiFi balloons (Project Loon), new prototype self-driving cars and more. Curiously the main interview, though wide ranging, didn’t get into the recent European Court […]
The “Right To Be Forgotten” – EU Court Gives People Ability To Delete Their Google Search Results
The “right to be forgotten”: a triumph of individual privacy rights or censorship? It’s going to depend on how it plays out in specific circumstances. The Luxembourg-based European Union Court of Justice, Europe’s “top court,” ruled earlier today that Google can be compelled to remove information about individuals from search results as part of a […]
US Court Says Baidu Has Free Speech Right To Censor Search
Late last week, Chinese search engine Baidu succeeded in gaining dismissal of a lawsuit by pro-democracy activists based in New York (Zhang et al. v. Baidu.com, Inc). Plaintiffs had sued in the US and argued that Baidu improperly blocked them from seeing content on the search engine. Specifically, according to Reuters, the plaintiffs said that people in the US couldn’t […]
Google’s Latest Transparency Report Shows Rise In Content Removal Requests From Russia & Turkey
Google announced today it has released its eighth Transparency Report since 2010 when the search engine began providing data on government requests to remove content. According to the latest Transparency Report covering the first half of 2013, Google saw a “significant” increase in the number of requests from Turkey and Russia, with Russia’s requests to […]
French Court Orders Google, ISPs To Block Or Delist Video Sites
The High Court of Paris recently decided that French ISPs and search engines (Google, Yahoo and Bing) must completely block access or remove 16 copyright-infringing video sites from their indexes and search results. The case was originally filed in 2011. The successful plaintiffs were several France-based film and TV trade associations, including L’Association des Producteurs […]
Black Friday – A Cautionary Tale From An Online Retailer
Editors’ note: This column has been removed because retailer Harry & David apparently threatened legal action against a former employee quoted in the article. The company apparently claimed that, despite her having been given permission to speak about these issues at a public gathering, in hindsight, the company doesn’t want them discussed. We like that […]
French Court Orders Google To Remove Max Mosley Images From Search Engine Results
After making a public plea for the European courts to dismiss a lawsuit filed by former Formula One president Max Mosley, Google found out today the French court has ruled in favor of Mosley and is forcing the search engine to censure search results. According to a report on Reuters.com, the French court has ordered […]
Could You Walk In Google’s Shoes? Making Tough Calls With Search Listings
It’s pretty easy to sit back and slam Google for how you think it should make decisions when it comes to search listings. It’s much harder to actually make those decisions, when you have a deeper understanding of all the implications involved. To experience this better, here’s a chance to put yourself in Google’s shoes […]
Governments Across The Globe Are Making More Requests To Remove Content From Google Services
According to a new Transparency Report released today, Google received 4,096 government requests to remove 42,249 pieces of content during 2012. The purpose of Google’s Transparency Reports is to record the number of worldwide government requests to censor content on Google services, and offer insight into the amount of censorship happening across the globe. The […]
Privacy Vs Censorship: Google, Spanish Government Face Off In European Courts
In a test case that could have significant implications for Google throughout Europe the company faced off against the Spanish data protection authority in the Court of Justice of the European Union in Luxembourg. One could frame the case as “privacy vs. censorship.” From the Spanish government’s point of view its data protection authority is […]