Google has begun granting '"right to be forgotten" requests to remove certain search results from the website.
The search giant told the Wall Street Journal that it had begun removing search results on Thursday, according to CNET. The European Union Court of Justice ordered Google under a ruling last month to remove users' search results that they believe will harm their person or be embarrassing.
The court said that an individual's right to privacy includes Internet searches, thus search engines must review and remove, when appropriate, unwanted search results.
Google has emailed people who have sent in requests to let them know that they have been approved, PC Magazine reported. However, the company has only completed a small part of the requests.
"This is a new process for us. Each request has to be assessed individually and we're working as quickly as possible to get through the queue," a spokesman for Google said. "We'll continue to work with data protection authorities and others as we implement this ruling."
The company has been fighting to keep the law from getting passed, arguing for years that it does not have any control of information going out on different websites, CNET reported. Google stated that the publisher should take responsibility for removing content, and that it will be the only way that the content can be automatically removed from the company's search results.
The European Union's ruling applies to all search companies, such as Yahoo, but Google has received the most requests due to having the most searches in Europe.
Google received 12,000 applications for search removals within hours of launching its request form, and received a total of 41,000 requests by the end of the week. However, not all of the requests will be granted, as the company has to look through each application in order to balance that person's right to privacy with the public's right to know and distribution information.
Google also added a new message to its pages that lets researchers know that some results may have been removed under the EU's ruling, CNET reported. The statement can be found at the bottom of the pages and is placed on every search that is connected to an individual or particular event.
