Report: Google Has Received Over 2.4 Million European Requests to Be ‘Forgotten’

Google has received over 2.4 million requests from Europeans exercising their “right to be forgotten” from the Internet, according to a report.

Following a 2014 law enacted in the European Union (EU), European individuals and companies have a right to be removed from search engines, such as Google, if the results of them are considered “inaccurate, inadequate, irrelevant or excessive,” and are not of significant public interest.

Americans currently do not have a “right to be forgotten.”

According to the New York Post, “Most of the requests came from regular Joes wanting sensitive information — like their home address or personal photos or videos — removed from any Google search results,” however there were also “41,213 requests from celebrities and 33,937 requests from politicians.”

“Google noted that 39.7 percent of de-listing requests were made in the first year of RTBF —with 24.9 percent coming in the second year and 22 percent in the third year,” they explained, adding, “Roughly one-third of the requests pertained to the removal of personal information from social-media and directory sites, while one-fifth of the requests were to remove a requester’s legal history.”

In August, it was reported that the United Kingdom plans to strengthen its nation’s “right to be forgotten” laws upon departure from the European Union, extending the law so that social media companies will have to “delete personal information on request.”

Charlie Nash is a reporter for Breitbart Tech. You can follow him on Twitter @MrNashington, or like his page at Facebook.