Like other technology and communications companies, Google regularly receives requests from government agencies and courts around the world to remove content from our services. In this report, we disclose the number of requests we receive from each government in six-month periods with certain limitations.
Governments ask companies to remove content for many different reasons. For example, some content removals are requested due to allegations of defamation, while others are due to allegations that the content violates local laws prohibiting hate speech or adult content. Laws surrounding these issues vary by country, and the requests reflect the legal context of a given jurisdiction. We hope this tool will be helpful in discussions about the appropriate scope and authority of government requests.
We received a court order to remove 860 orkut profiles for impersonation. We removed 834 of the profiles, which fell within the scope of the order.
We received a court order to remove 815 search results for linking to images and sites that reference an individual. We removed 207 of the search results, which fell within the scope of the order.
Google Sites was inaccessible during this reporting period, beginning on October 11, 2009.
YouTube was inaccessible during this reporting period, beginning on March 23, 2009. [Source: New York Times]We received a request from legal representatives of a former politician to remove a blog post that allegedly defames him by explaining his connections with the pharmaceutical lobby. We did not remove the blog post.
Separately, we received a court order to remove 111 search results for linking to sites that allegedly contain trademark infringing material. We did not remove content in response to this request because the specified URLs did not relate to the reason for removal cited in the court order.
We received a request from the BPjM (Federal Department for Media Harmful to Young Persons) to remove a YouTube video that contained explicit language in reference to the police. We restricted the YouTube video from view in accordance with local laws. We also received two requests from the youth protection agency Jugendschutz.net to remove 316 videos for allegedly violating the German Children and Young Persons Act as well as other local laws. We restricted the majority of the videos from view in Germany in accordance with local laws.
Gmail was inaccessible during this reporting period, beginning on February 9, 2012. [Source: Washington Post]
Google Videos was inaccessible during this reporting period, beginning on January 30, 2011.
YouTube was inaccessible during this reporting period, beginning on June 13, 2009. [Source: ONI]We received a civil court order from an individual that was addressed to a third party. We removed 140 search results that we determined to fall within the scope of the order.
We received requests from the Telecommunications Communication Presidency of the Information and Communications Technologies Authority to remove blogs for discussing minority independence and disclosing details about the private lives of politicians. We did not remove content in response to these requests.
We received a request from a local law enforcement agency on behalf of an individual to remove 242 YouTube videos for referencing that individual. We did not remove content in response to this request.
We received a court order to remove 1,754 posts from Google Groups relating to a case of continuous defamation against a man and his family. We removed 1,664 of the posts, which fell within the scope of the order.
We received three court orders to remove 641 search results for linking to websites that allegedly defame organizations and individuals. We removed 233 of the search results requested, which fell within the scope of the orders.
In response to a court order, we removed 156 search results because the web pages in question used a trademark in violation of an earlier order.
Transparency Report