Knowledge Base Center

How we delete under the European Privacy Laws?

Evaluating requests
We assess each request on a case-by-case basis. In some cases, we may ask the individual for more information. We have carefully developed criteria in alignment with the Article 29 Working Party’s guidelines. After a request is submitted to us via our webform it undergoes a manual review. There are no categories of requests that are automatically rejected by humans or by machines. Once we reach a decision, the individual will receive an email notifying him or her of our decision and, if we do not remove the URL, a brief explanation.

Reasons we don’t delist
A few common material factors involved in decisions not to delist pages include the existence of alternative solutions, technical reasons, or duplicate URLs. We may also determine that the page contains information which is strongly in the public interest. Determining whether content is in the public interest is complex and may mean considering many diverse factors, including—but not limited to—whether the content relates to the requester’s professional life, a past crime, political office, position in public life, or whether the content itself is self-authored content, government documents, or journalistic in nature.

Content removal
Laws around the world affect the availability of content across Search Engines products and services. These reports disclose data on content removal requests in an effort to inform discussions about online content regulation.

back to knowledgebase