At the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, cases of the “right to be forgotten” increased especially; However, the most recent data shows a decline after the end of the pandemic.
This is according to cybersecurity firm Surfshark, which analyzed “right to be forgotten” requests to Google and Microsoft Bing to remove data from search engine results. Of the two search engines, the vast majority of queries were sent to Google.
Most of the requests come from Western countries; France, Germany and the United Kingdom account for more than a fraction of all “right to be forgotten” requests.
The “right to be forgotten” or “right to erasure” allows Americans to ask Internet pages to remove queries similar to their call from European search engine effects. It applies to countries covered by the GDPR (EU and EEA) and other European countries. countries that have followed similar laws, such as the United Kingdom and Switzerland. 2015 marked the first full year in which this policy was implemented. The data on applicants contained on these Internet pages varies widely, ranging from non-public and professional data to links to criminals. activity.
After the “right to be forgotten”, requests increased by almost 30% in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic (for a total of 161,000) and continued to increase in 2021 to reach 186,000. It went virtual, which possibly would have encouraged other people to be more aware of their virtual hygiene and review their online privacy.
In 2022, around 155,000 “right to be forgotten” or “right to delete” requests were submitted to Google and Bing. This is a reduction of nearly 20% from last year and marks the first decline since the start of the pandemic. in 2020.
Of the 32 countries analysed in 2022, 28 countries registered a number of applications.
“The data shows that interest in the ‘right to be forgotten’ has stabilized in recent years,” says Lina Survila, a spokeswoman for Surfshark. “Interestingly, Western countries are the most active in filing requests for the ‘right to be forgotten’, but so far it turns out that there is a lack of commitment or awareness about the benefits that the GDPR presents among other European countries.
“Increasing public understanding of those projects emphasizes the role of the GDPR as a catalyst for the protection of virtual rights and privacy globally. “
In 2022, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom accounted for more than 50% of all “right to be forgotten” requests. France presented the number of programs in 2022, with a total of 43,000, more than a quarter of all programs. Germany and the United Kingdom are in second and third place, with 24,000 and 16,000 programs. Italy and Spain rank fourth and fifth, with 12,000 and 11,000 programs.
Over the past decade, the “right to be forgotten” has been exercised in the EU and other countries, resulting in the removal of 6 billion URLs from Google alone. During this period, social networking sites were the most common targets for delisting. with Facebook being the most prominent.
A total of 129,000 Facebook URLs were removed, of which two-fifths were removed. X (formerly Twitter), YouTube, and Google Groups rank second, third, and fifth, with 72,000, 53,000, and 30,000 URLs. about a portion of URLs were effectively removed for X and Google Groups, while more than a third of URLs were removed for YouTube.
By the end of 2022, Google had removed the highest percentage of sensitive data and other private data URLs, with 97% and 93% of list removals, respectively. The crime data had a radiation rate of 61%. By contrast, Google removed less than a portion of the proxy look-alike URLs and other business data. Political news had the lowest removal rate, with only one-fifth of all URLs removed through Google.