Google is being flooded with so-called "right to be forgotten" requests shortly after allowing European users to file claims.
In just the first 24 hours claims could be filed, RT reports Google received 12,000 requests from people who wanted certain information removed from the search engine. At this point, Google says Germans have filed the most requests.
It comes after the EU's highest court ruled search engines like Google, Bing and Yahoo must allow people to have the "right to be forgotten." (Via Euronews)
"They can ask Google to remove links about themselves from search engines. The users would have to prove that the link is inadequate, irrelevant or inappropriate." (Via WCAU)
According to The Telegraph, the ruling applies to 500 million people across the EU.
USA Today points out the ruling comes years after a man from Spain requested a legal notice be removed from a Spanish newspaper's website. The case ended up going to the EU's highest court which ordered the website could keep the link on its site, but Google needed to remove the link from its search engine.
So far, it's not clear when Google could respond to all of the thousands of requests, but The New York Times says: "The decisions are likely to be complex, and the requests are expected to cover a wide range."
And then there are those out there who fear the court's ruling won't do as much as some privacy advocates might want.
A writer for CNN says: "There is no legal oversight or appeals process built in to the ruling — the court simply leaves it up to Google and others to decide what is and is not in the public interest."
Either way, The New York Times reports Google's links would only be removed for people who live in the European Union. Any removed links would still be viewable for users in other countries. Other search engines link Bing and Yahoo still haven't decided how they'll comply with the court's ruling.
