Google Gets 10,000 Requests -A Day- To Be ‘Forgotten’ in Europe

Individuals in Europe hoping to have search results deleted have sent Google an average of 10,000 requests per day, or one every 7 seconds.

Google is starting to accept requests from Europeans who want to erase unflattering information from the results produced by the world's dominant search engine. The demands can be submitted on a Web page that Google opened late Thursday, May 29, 2014, in response to a landmark ruling issued two weeks ago by Europe's highest court.

Google is receiving a deluge of requests from people hoping to delete individual search results, as Europeans exercise their newly-won “right to be forgotten.”

Google said Tuesday it had received 41,000 requests from people in the first four days after posting a request page late last week, the Wall Street Journal reports, amounting to more than 10,000 requests per day, or roughly 7 each minute.

The Luxembourg-based European Court of Justice ruled last month that search engines must accept requests to remove links from individual name searches. Critics of the court’s ruling say it could limit free speech and allow for a whitewashing of the internet.

The sheer volume of requests has led Google to consider hire new staffers or re-dedicating staffers to deal with submissions.