Google has set up a ‘right to be forgotten’ online form following a European Court ruling.
The form allows EU citizens to explain why a searchable link is ‘irrelevant, outdated, or otherwise inappropriate.’ If approved, it will be erased from Google’s search results, although the page will still remain on the internet. In the first 24 hours of launching Google received over 12,000 ‘right to be forgotten’ requests.
The ‘right to be forgotten’ requires search engines to edit results to comply with the European directive on the protection of personal data, including removing personal information which is ‘inadequate, irrelevant or no longer relevant’.
Google said information would start to be removed from mid-June and any results affected by the removal process would be flagged to searchers.