Google expands right-to-be-forgotten removals

The company is taking the steps to better embrace a landmark ruling in 2014 by European Union's top court

Google will take more steps to comply with Europe’s right-to-be-forgotten rule by removing links from all of its websites across the globe, a person with knowledge of the matter said.

Google, part of Alphabet, is taking the steps to better embrace a landmark ruling in 2014 by the European Union’s top court, which granted the region’s citizens the right to ask Web-search engines to remove personal information about themselves. Implementation can be tricky, because of the different versions of search sites operating in different countries, leading to questions about how far Google must go.

Previously, when a person from a European Union country searched for information, Google had only scrubbed relevant results from its EU sites that fall under the right-to-be-forgotten rule. That meant a person who wanted information removed from Google’s results would show up on searches done on Google’s websites outside of the region.

Now, results from requests originating inside the EU won’t show up on all of Google’s sites, said the person, who asked not be identified because the steps haven’t been announced yet. The rule won’t apply to searches from outside the EU.