Google received almost 6 million URL search removal requests in the last month as copyright holders continue their fight against sites offering copyrighted content for download.
Google revealed the extent of the search removal requests in the latest update to its Transparency Report Page. By the numbers, in the past month:
- 5,678,030: URLs requested to be removed
- 31,628: Specified domains
- 1,845: Copyright Owners
- 1,376: Reporting organizations
Requests submitted to the search giant peaked at 1.49 million the week of August 13, compared to 156,708 in the same time period in 2011. The second highest week this year was August 20, which saw the company receive 1.42 million requests to remove results, up from 91,985 during the same weekly period last year.
Notable requests received by Google include those from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) with 841,177; Microsoft, which submitted 681,227 requests, and NBCUniversal’s 254,527 requests.
The data doesn’t include information on how many of the requests Google complied with, though. Google complied with 97 percent of takedowns requests between July and December 2011.
The requests are made to Google under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DCMA), which removes liability from the firm if it provides inadvertent access to sites offering illegal material, if they comply with requests to remove content flagged by rights’ holders.
Earlier this month, Google announced that sites with more DMCA takedown requests would begin ranking lower in search results. It’s unclear whether that announcement coincided with the record week of search removal requests. Copyright removal notices then declined the week following the announcement.
Google’s Transparency Report only includes requests sent via Google’s web form and doesn’t include copyright removal requests for other products, such as YouTube or Blogger.
This article was originally published on V3.
Related reading
Why Wikipedia is still visible across Google’s SERPs in 2018
From queries about products and brands to celebrities and topical events, Wikipedia still features heavily across Google searches – even while our habits as search engine users change (with voice and mobile increasingly having an impact), and while Google itself works to make its results more intuitive and full of rich features. How does Wikipedia manage to maintain this visibility in 2018?
Amazon emerges as search advertising powerhouse
Amazon's search advertising business is on track to generate more than $10 billion in advertising revenues over the next year, according to their Q3 earnings report. What does that mean for Facebook and Google, and what does Amazon need to get right in order to succeed best?
Google and Facebook back Berners-Lee’s Case #ForTheWeb
Google, Facebook, Richard Branson, and the French government are among nearly 60 parties who've already signed on to participate in Tim Berners-Lee's efforts to create a contract for the web.
Data on why retail icon Sears fell in new ecommerce economy
A look at Sears.com traffic and conversions, and what insights that data gives us on why once-iconic Sears failed to maintain its strength in ecommerce.
