London: Google Inc reversed its decision to remove several links to stories in Britain’s Guardian newspaper, underscoring the difficulty the search engine is having implementing Europe’s “right to be forgotten” ruling.
The Guardian protested the removal of its stories describing how a football referee lied about reversing a penalty decision. It was unclear who asked Google to remove the stories.
Google has not restored links to a BBC article that described how former Merrill Lynch chief executive officer E. Stanley O’Neal was ousted after the investment bank racked up billions of dollars in losses.
The incidents underscore the uncertainty around how Google intends to adhere to a European court ruling that gave its citizens the “right to be forgotten” to request the scrubbing of links to articles that pop up under a name search.
Privacy advocates say the backlash around press censorship highlight the potential dangers of the ruling and its unwieldiness. That may benefit Google by stirring debate about the soundness of the ruling, which the search leader criticised the ruling from the outset.
Google, which has received more than 70,000 requests, began acting on them in past days. And it notified the BBC and the Guardian, which in turn publicised the moves. The incidents suggest that requesting removal of a link may actually bring the issue back into the public spotlight.
