As a digital marketing company, increasing online visibility & prominence is one of our key objectives, which is why a new feature from search giants Google has us intrigued. As of today (30th May), Google has launched a ‘right to be forgotten’ page that allows people to remove their online presence and take a step towards becoming digitally anonymous.
The feature comes as a result of a new EU ruling under the European Data Protection law that states a person has the right to remove internet content surrounding themselves.
What’s interesting is that individuals can actually request to remove specified pages. Google requires that you give a reason for request too, which raises question of: what warrants a removal? What deems the content removal-worthy? Last night’s party photos are unlikely to be high up on that list.
What Google has said however, is that “irrelevant” and “outdated” data will be removed, and that it would assess the “privacy rights of the individual” and compare it with “the public’s right to know and distribute information”.
Luckily, there’s no fear of being wiped off the face of the digital landscape by someone else either – unless of course they have your ID. A driver’s license or passport is required in order to authorise the claim.
Google has also not specified when the URL will be removed after its request. Those that are accepted will be removed from mid-June, though only across Europe. Users will be notified that there have been results removed if they happen to stumble upon withdrawn pages.
Furthermore, it’s interesting to note that this process will be done manually by a Google team – rather than an automated algorithm.
You can find out more about Google’s ‘right to be removed’ here. Upperdog is a web design and development company in Bournemouth, for help with websites and SEO, please contact us.