A Google search page is seen through the spectacles of a computer user in Leicester, central England July 20, 2007. (Photo : REUTERS/DARREN STAPLES)
Following the European Union Court of Justice's ruling regarding the "Right to be Forgotten," tech giant Google received more than 350,000 requests in order to remove more than 1.2 million links on its search results. The Mountain View-based company said that 42 percent of all the requested links were already removed.
In May 2014, the European Union Court of Justice released a ruling stating that search engines, like Google and Yahoo, may be forced to remove links directed to people on their search results. The ruling allows an individual to request any search engine to remove any links to online articles or documents that contain their name.
The right to be forgotten also gave search engines the right to assess each request given that they follow one guideline which states that search engines are only allowed to continue posting links directed to people as long as there is public interest in doing so, according to Android Headlines.
Following the ratification of the ruling, Google said that it received a flood of request. More than 1.2 million links were requested to be removed. The tech giant said that it only managed to remove 441,032 on its search results. Google said that 608,169 were not removed while the rest are still pending review or require additional information.
According to PC World, Google is in the process of appealing to reject the right to be forgotten ruling. The company said that the ruling have negative implications on the right to free speech. The right to be forgotten is exclusively exercised at countries that are part of the European Union.
