These observations are meant to highlight certain requests that we have received during each reporting period, along with some trends that we've noticed in the data, and are by no means exhaustive.
January to June 2012
-
We received a court order to remove 120 search results for linking to sites that allegedly reference individuals. We did not remove content in response to this request because the URLs listed did not reference the individuals cited in the order.
January to June 2010
-
The courts in Argentina issued two orders that sought the removal of every search result mentioning a particular individual's name in association with a certain category of content. The number of search results at issue well exceeds 100,000 results. We did not attempt to approximate the number of individual items of content that might be encompassed by those two court orders. Google appealed those orders.
July to December 2009
-
A federal prosecutor claimed that information about him and his wife (a federal judge) had been posted for analysis on two political blogs and asked that we remove them. We removed a portion of one of the blogs for revealing private information about the judge, but did not remove further content from the blogs as it did not violate our internal policies.
January to June 2012
-
We received a request from a state government agency to remove a YouTube video of statements made against members of law enforcement. We did not remove the video.
January to June 2012
-
We received a request from a local law enforcement agency to remove seven blog posts for allegedly defaming the honor of a local mayor, judge and police chief of the Pará State. We did not remove content in response to this request.
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.
July to December 2011
-
In December, we received an electoral court order that resulted in the removal of four orkut profiles for content related to political campaigns.
July to December 2010
-
During the October election period in Brazil, the number of court orders issued from electoral courts rose, ordering removal of content related to political campaigns. In addition, one court ordered removal of more than 11,500 photos from Picasa. The lawsuit alleged that the photos contained images of pages from copyrighted books.
January to June 2010
-
More than 50% of content removal requests related to orkut. Atypically, in a non-orkut-related lawsuit, one court ordered removal of more than 18,000 photos from Picasa. The lawsuit alleged that the photos contained images of pages from copyrighted books.
-
The number of content removal requests we received increased by 37% compared to the previous reporting period.
July to December 2009
-
The majority of the Brazilian requests for removal of content from orkut related to alleged impersonation or defamation.
July to December 2011
-
We received a request from the Passport Canada office to remove a YouTube video of a Canadian citizen urinating on his passport and flushing it down the toilet. We did not remove the video.
July to December 2009
-
We received a request from a Canadian politician to remove a blog criticizing his policies. We declined to remove the blog because it did not violate our policies.
January to June 2012
-
We received a request from a provincial land bureau to remove a search result for linking to a site that allegedly defames a government official. We did not remove content in response to this request.
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]
January to June 2011
-
We received three requests to remove a total of 121 items from our services. We removed ads that violated our AdWords policies in response to two of those requests, but did not otherwise remove content. We have withheld details about one request because we have reason to believe that the Chinese government has prohibited us from full disclosure.
-
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]
July to December 2010
-
During the period that Google's joint venture operated google.cn, its search results were subject to censorship pursuant to requests from government agencies responsible for Internet regulation. Chinese officials consider censorship demands to be state secrets, so we cannot disclose any information about content removal requests for the two reporting periods from July 2009 to June 2010.
As we announced in June 2010, users visiting the landing page on google.cn, now see a link to google.com.hk, (our Hong Kong site), where users can conduct web search or continue to use google.cn services like music and text translate, which we can provide locally without filtering.
Hence, beginning with the July–December 2010 reporting period, we disclose the number of content removal requests we receive from the Chinese government. (For that reporting period, we received no requests.)
-
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]
January to June 2010
-
During the period that Google's joint venture operated google.cn, its search results were subject to censorship pursuant to requests from government agencies responsible for Internet regulation. Chinese officials consider censorship demands to be state secrets, so we cannot disclose any information about content removal requests for the two reporting periods from July 2009 to June 2010.
-
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]
January to June 2011
-
A single court order resulted in the removal of 180 items from Google Groups relating to a case of defamation against a man and his wife.
January to June 2012
-
In response to a court order, we removed eight search results for linking to sites allegedly defaming a politician's wife.
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.
-
The number of content removal requests we received increased by 140% compared to the previous reporting period.
January to June 2010
-
A substantial number of German removal requests resulted from court orders that related to defamation in search results.
July to December 2009
-
A substantial number of German removal requests resulted from court orders that related to defamation in search results. Approximately 11% of the German removal requests are related to pro-Nazi content or content advocating denial of the Holocaust, both of which are illegal under German law.
January to June 2012
-
We received a request from the Hong Kong Customs and Excise Department to remove 370 YouTube videos for containing allegedly copyright infringing material. We did not remove content in response to this request because the notice was incomplete.
January to June 2012
-
In response to a court order, we removed 360 search results. The search results linked to 360 web pages that contained adult videos that allegedly violated an individual's personal privacy.
July to December 2011
-
The number of content removal requests we received increased by 49% compared to the previous reporting period.
January to June 2011
-
We received requests from state and local law enforcement agencies to remove YouTube videos that displayed protests against social leaders or used offensive language in reference to religious leaders. We declined the majority of these requests and only locally restricted videos that appeared to violate local laws prohibiting speech that could incite enmity between communities. In addition, we received a request from a local law enforcement agency to remove 236 communities and profiles from orkut that were critical of a local politician. We did not remove content in response to this request, since the content did not violate our Community Standards or local law.
July to December 2010
-
We received requests from different law enforcement agencies to remove a blog and YouTube videos that were critical of Chief Ministers and senior officials of different states. We did not remove content in response to these requests.
-
The number of content removal requests we received increased by 123% compared to the previous reporting period.
July to December 2009
-
In the last half of 2009, the majority of Indian requests for removal of content from orkut related to alleged impersonation or defamation.
January to June 2011
-
We received a request from the Central Police in Italy to remove a YouTube video that satirized Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's lifestyle. We did not remove content in response to this request.
July to December 2010
-
We received a request from the Central Police in Italy for removal of a YouTube video that criticized Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and simulated his assassination with a gun at the end of the video. We removed the video for violating YouTube's Community Guidelines.
January to June 2010
-
We received a request from a local ministry in Kazakhstan to remove the YouTube channel for a TV channel supportive of the opposition. We did not remove the channel.
January to June 2010
-
We received 147 requests to remove more than 1,000 YouTube videos. We removed a portion of the videos for violating YouTube's Community Guidelines but did not remove the rest of the videos.
-
YouTube was inaccessible during this reporting period, beginning on January 23, 2010. [Source: Global Voices]
January to June 2012
-
We received a request from the legal representatives of a member of the royal family to remove five blog posts for containing images that allegedly violated her privacy. We removed four of the blog posts cited in the request.
January to June 2011
-
Two requests resulted in the removal of 1,814 items from AdWords for violating Norwegian marketing laws.
July to December 2011
-
We received a request from the Government of Pakistan's Ministry of Information Technology to remove six YouTube videos that satirized the Pakistan Army and senior politicians. We did not remove content in response to this request.
January to June 2012
-
We received a request from the office of a local mayor to remove five blogs for criticizing the mayor. We did not remove content in response to this request.
July to December 2011
-
We received a request from the Polish Agency for Enterprise Development to remove a search result that criticized the agency as well as eight more that linked to it. We did not remove content in response to this request.
January to June 2012
-
We received a request from the Russian Ministry of the Interior to remove 160 YouTube videos that allegedly contain extremist content in violation of Article 13 of the Federal Law on Counteracting Extremist Activity. We restricted the videos from view in Russia.
January to June 2011
-
Starting with the January–June 2011 reporting period, our counts of requests to remove content from Google's search products omit cases where the original content is no longer visible on the web, for instance, after the webmaster has removed it. (Such content may remain visible in Google's search index for a while after the original disappears, as a cached copy or search snippet.) The drop in the number of items requested to be removed between 2010 and 2011 can be explained by this change. In addition, a request from the Korean Food and Drug Administration (KFDA) resulted in the removal of 441 ads that violated KFDA regulations.
July to December 2010
-
The majority of the more than 32,000 individual items that Korean government agencies sought to be removed were search results on google.co.kr that contained RRNs.
-
The number of content removal requests we received increased by 48% compared to the previous reporting period.
January to June 2010
-
The majority of the more than 15,000 individual URLs that Korean government agencies sought to be removed were search results on google.co.kr that contained RRNs.
-
The number of content removal requests we received increased by 47% compared to the previous reporting period.
January to June 2012
-
The number of content removal requests we received increased by 60% compared to the previous reporting period.
July to December 2011
-
We received 14 requests from the Spanish Data Protection Authority to remove 270 search results that linked to blogs and sites referencing individuals and public figures. The Spanish Data Protection Authority also ordered the removal of three blogs published on Blogger and three videos hosted on YouTube. We did not remove content in response to these requests.
January to June 2010
-
The number of content removal requests we received increased by 75% compared to the previous reporting period.
January to June 2012
-
We received two requests from the Ministry of Information, Communication and Technology in Thailand to remove 14 YouTube videos for allegedly insulting the monarchy in violation of Thailand's lèse-majesté law. We restricted three of these videos from view in Thailand out of respect for local law.
July to December 2011
-
We received four requests from the Ministry of Information, Communication and Technology in Thailand to remove 149 YouTube videos for allegedly insulting the monarchy in violation of Thailand’s lèse-majesté law. We restricted 70% of these videos from view in Thailand out of respect for local law.
January to June 2011
-
We received two requests from the Ministry of Information, Communication and Technology in Thailand to remove 225 YouTube videos for allegedly insulting the monarchy in violation of Thailand's lèse-majesté law. We restricted Thai users from accessing more than 90% of the videos.
July to December 2010
-
We received a request from the Ministry of Information, Communication and Technology in Thailand to remove 43 pieces of content because they were mocking or criticizing the king in violation of Thai lèse-majesté laws. We restricted Thai users from accessing these videos.
January to June 2012
-
We received a request from legal representatives of a member of the executive branch to remove 10 YouTube videos for alleged defamation. We did not remove content in response to this request.
January to June 2012
-
We received 148 requests from the Telecommunications Communication Presidency of the Information and Communications Technologies Authority to remove 426 YouTube videos, Blogger blogs, one Google document and one search result, all due to alleged criticism of Atatürk, the government or national identity and values. We restricted Turkish users from accessing 63% of the YouTube videos. We did not remove content in response to the requests relating to Web Search, Blogger blogs, or the single request to remove a Google document.
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.
-
The number of content removal requests we received increased by 1,013% compared to the previous reporting period.
July to December 2011
-
We received a request from the Telecommunications Communication Presidency of the Information and Communications Technologies Authority to remove a YouTube video that contained hate speech and two other videos about Atatürk. We removed the video with hate speech for violating YouTube's Community Guidelines but did not remove content in response to the rest of the request. In addition, we received two requests from the Telecommunications Communication Presidency of the Information and Communications Technologies Authority and a request from the Ankara Public Prosecutor of the Press Bureau to remove a total of seven YouTube videos, claiming that the videos violated law no. 5816 on crimes against Atatürk. We restricted Turkish users from accessing six of these videos.
January to June 2012
-
We received a request from a local law enforcement agency to remove 14 search results for linking to sites that criticize the police and claim individuals were involved in obscuring crimes. We did not remove content in response to this request. In addition, we received a request from another local law enforcement agency to remove a YouTube video for criticizing the agency for racism. We did not remove content in response to this request.
-
The number of content removal requests we received increased by 98% compared to the previous reporting period.
July to December 2011
-
We received a request from the UK's Association of Police Officers to remove five user accounts that allegedly promoted terrorism. We terminated these accounts because they violated YouTube's Community Guidelines, and as a result approximately 640 videos were removed.
January to June 2011
-
The number of content removal requests we received increased by 71% compared to the previous reporting period.
July to December 2010
-
The UK's Office of Fair Trading requested the removal of fraudulent ads that linked to scams. We removed 93,360 items in total.
January to June 2012
-
We received five requests and one court order to remove seven YouTube videos for criticizing local and state government agencies, law enforcement or public officials. We did not remove content in response to these requests.
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.
-
The number of content removal requests we received increased by 46% compared to the previous reporting period.
July to December 2011
-
We received a request from a local law enforcement agency to remove a blog because of a post that allegedly defamed a law enforcement official in a personal capacity. We did not remove content in response to this request, which we have categorized in this Report as a defamation request.
We received a request from a local law enforcement agency to remove 1,400 YouTube videos for alleged harassment. We did not remove content in response to this request. Separately, we received a request from a different local law enforcement agency to remove five user accounts that allegedly contained threatening and/or harassing content. We terminated four of the accounts, which resulted in the removal of approximately 300 videos, but did not remove the remaining account with 54 videos.
We received a court order to remove 218 search results that linked to allegedly defamatory websites. We removed 25% of the results cited in the request.
-
The number of content removal requests we received increased by 103% compared to the previous reporting period.
January to June 2011
-
We received a request from a local law enforcement agency to remove YouTube videos of police brutality, which we did not remove.
Separately, we received requests from a different local law enforcement agency for removal of videos allegedly defaming law enforcement officials. We did not remove content in response to those requests, which we have categorized in this Report as defamation requests.
-
The number of content removal requests we received increased by 70% compared to the previous reporting period.
July to December 2010
-
Six court orders resulted in the removal of 1,110 items from Google Groups relating to a case of continuous defamation against a man and his family.
July to December 2010
-
We received a request from the Vietnamese government to remove search results on a particular word that generated results that contained allegedly unflattering depictions of past Vietnamese leaders. We declined the request.
January to June 2012
-
We received a court order to remove 120 search results for linking to sites that allegedly reference individuals. We did not remove content in response to this request because the URLs listed did not reference the individuals cited in the order.
-
We received a request from a state government agency to remove a YouTube video of statements made against members of law enforcement. We did not remove the video.
-
We received a request from a local law enforcement agency to remove seven blog posts for allegedly defaming the honor of a local mayor, judge and police chief of the Pará State. We did not remove content in response to this request.
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.
-
We received a request from a provincial land bureau to remove a search result for linking to a site that allegedly defames a government official. We did not remove content in response to this request.
-
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]
-
In response to a court order, we removed eight search results for linking to sites allegedly defaming a politician's wife.
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.
-
The number of content removal requests we received increased by 140% compared to the previous reporting period.
-
We received a request from the Hong Kong Customs and Excise Department to remove 370 YouTube videos for containing allegedly copyright infringing material. We did not remove content in response to this request because the notice was incomplete.
-
In response to a court order, we removed 360 search results. The search results linked to 360 web pages that contained adult videos that allegedly violated an individual's personal privacy.
-
We received a request from the legal representatives of a member of the royal family to remove five blog posts for containing images that allegedly violated her privacy. We removed four of the blog posts cited in the request.
-
We received a request from the office of a local mayor to remove five blogs for criticizing the mayor. We did not remove content in response to this request.
-
We received a request from the Russian Ministry of the Interior to remove 160 YouTube videos that allegedly contain extremist content in violation of Article 13 of the Federal Law on Counteracting Extremist Activity. We restricted the videos from view in Russia.
-
The number of content removal requests we received increased by 60% compared to the previous reporting period.
-
We received two requests from the Ministry of Information, Communication and Technology in Thailand to remove 14 YouTube videos for allegedly insulting the monarchy in violation of Thailand's lèse-majesté law. We restricted three of these videos from view in Thailand out of respect for local law.
-
We received a request from legal representatives of a member of the executive branch to remove 10 YouTube videos for alleged defamation. We did not remove content in response to this request.
-
We received 148 requests from the Telecommunications Communication Presidency of the Information and Communications Technologies Authority to remove 426 YouTube videos, Blogger blogs, one Google document and one search result, all due to alleged criticism of Atatürk, the government or national identity and values. We restricted Turkish users from accessing 63% of the YouTube videos. We did not remove content in response to the requests relating to Web Search, Blogger blogs, or the single request to remove a Google document.
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.
-
The number of content removal requests we received increased by 1,013% compared to the previous reporting period.
-
We received a request from a local law enforcement agency to remove 14 search results for linking to sites that criticize the police and claim individuals were involved in obscuring crimes. We did not remove content in response to this request. In addition, we received a request from another local law enforcement agency to remove a YouTube video for criticizing the agency for racism. We did not remove content in response to this request.
-
The number of content removal requests we received increased by 98% compared to the previous reporting period.
-
We received five requests and one court order to remove seven YouTube videos for criticizing local and state government agencies, law enforcement or public officials. We did not remove content in response to these requests.
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.
-
The number of content removal requests we received increased by 46% compared to the previous reporting period.
July to December 2011
-
In December, we received an electoral court order that resulted in the removal of four orkut profiles for content related to political campaigns.
-
We received a request from the Passport Canada office to remove a YouTube video of a Canadian citizen urinating on his passport and flushing it down the toilet. We did not remove the video.
-
The number of content removal requests we received increased by 49% compared to the previous reporting period.
-
We received a request from the Government of Pakistan's Ministry of Information Technology to remove six YouTube videos that satirized the Pakistan Army and senior politicians. We did not remove content in response to this request.
-
We received a request from the Polish Agency for Enterprise Development to remove a search result that criticized the agency as well as eight more that linked to it. We did not remove content in response to this request.
-
We received 14 requests from the Spanish Data Protection Authority to remove 270 search results that linked to blogs and sites referencing individuals and public figures. The Spanish Data Protection Authority also ordered the removal of three blogs published on Blogger and three videos hosted on YouTube. We did not remove content in response to these requests.
-
We received four requests from the Ministry of Information, Communication and Technology in Thailand to remove 149 YouTube videos for allegedly insulting the monarchy in violation of Thailand’s lèse-majesté law. We restricted 70% of these videos from view in Thailand out of respect for local law.
-
We received a request from the Telecommunications Communication Presidency of the Information and Communications Technologies Authority to remove a YouTube video that contained hate speech and two other videos about Atatürk. We removed the video with hate speech for violating YouTube's Community Guidelines but did not remove content in response to the rest of the request. In addition, we received two requests from the Telecommunications Communication Presidency of the Information and Communications Technologies Authority and a request from the Ankara Public Prosecutor of the Press Bureau to remove a total of seven YouTube videos, claiming that the videos violated law no. 5816 on crimes against Atatürk. We restricted Turkish users from accessing six of these videos.
-
We received a request from the UK's Association of Police Officers to remove five user accounts that allegedly promoted terrorism. We terminated these accounts because they violated YouTube's Community Guidelines, and as a result approximately 640 videos were removed.
-
We received a request from a local law enforcement agency to remove a blog because of a post that allegedly defamed a law enforcement official in a personal capacity. We did not remove content in response to this request, which we have categorized in this Report as a defamation request.
We received a request from a local law enforcement agency to remove 1,400 YouTube videos for alleged harassment. We did not remove content in response to this request. Separately, we received a request from a different local law enforcement agency to remove five user accounts that allegedly contained threatening and/or harassing content. We terminated four of the accounts, which resulted in the removal of approximately 300 videos, but did not remove the remaining account with 54 videos.
We received a court order to remove 218 search results that linked to allegedly defamatory websites. We removed 25% of the results cited in the request.
-
The number of content removal requests we received increased by 103% compared to the previous reporting period.
January to June 2011
-
We received three requests to remove a total of 121 items from our services. We removed ads that violated our AdWords policies in response to two of those requests, but did not otherwise remove content. We have withheld details about one request because we have reason to believe that the Chinese government has prohibited us from full disclosure.
-
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]
-
A single court order resulted in the removal of 180 items from Google Groups relating to a case of defamation against a man and his wife.
-
We received requests from state and local law enforcement agencies to remove YouTube videos that displayed protests against social leaders or used offensive language in reference to religious leaders. We declined the majority of these requests and only locally restricted videos that appeared to violate local laws prohibiting speech that could incite enmity between communities. In addition, we received a request from a local law enforcement agency to remove 236 communities and profiles from orkut that were critical of a local politician. We did not remove content in response to this request, since the content did not violate our Community Standards or local law.
-
We received a request from the Central Police in Italy to remove a YouTube video that satirized Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's lifestyle. We did not remove content in response to this request.
-
Two requests resulted in the removal of 1,814 items from AdWords for violating Norwegian marketing laws.
-
Starting with the January–June 2011 reporting period, our counts of requests to remove content from Google's search products omit cases where the original content is no longer visible on the web, for instance, after the webmaster has removed it. (Such content may remain visible in Google's search index for a while after the original disappears, as a cached copy or search snippet.) The drop in the number of items requested to be removed between 2010 and 2011 can be explained by this change. In addition, a request from the Korean Food and Drug Administration (KFDA) resulted in the removal of 441 ads that violated KFDA regulations.
-
We received two requests from the Ministry of Information, Communication and Technology in Thailand to remove 225 YouTube videos for allegedly insulting the monarchy in violation of Thailand's lèse-majesté law. We restricted Thai users from accessing more than 90% of the videos.
-
The number of content removal requests we received increased by 71% compared to the previous reporting period.
-
We received a request from a local law enforcement agency to remove YouTube videos of police brutality, which we did not remove.
Separately, we received requests from a different local law enforcement agency for removal of videos allegedly defaming law enforcement officials. We did not remove content in response to those requests, which we have categorized in this Report as defamation requests.
-
The number of content removal requests we received increased by 70% compared to the previous reporting period.
July to December 2010
-
During the October election period in Brazil, the number of court orders issued from electoral courts rose, ordering removal of content related to political campaigns. In addition, one court ordered removal of more than 11,500 photos from Picasa. The lawsuit alleged that the photos contained images of pages from copyrighted books.
-
During the period that Google's joint venture operated google.cn, its search results were subject to censorship pursuant to requests from government agencies responsible for Internet regulation. Chinese officials consider censorship demands to be state secrets, so we cannot disclose any information about content removal requests for the two reporting periods from July 2009 to June 2010.
As we announced in June 2010, users visiting the landing page on google.cn, now see a link to google.com.hk, (our Hong Kong site), where users can conduct web search or continue to use google.cn services like music and text translate, which we can provide locally without filtering.
Hence, beginning with the July–December 2010 reporting period, we disclose the number of content removal requests we receive from the Chinese government. (For that reporting period, we received no requests.)
-
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 requests from different law enforcement agencies to remove a blog and YouTube videos that were critical of Chief Ministers and senior officials of different states. We did not remove content in response to these requests.
-
The number of content removal requests we received increased by 123% compared to the previous reporting period.
-
We received a request from the Central Police in Italy for removal of a YouTube video that criticized Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and simulated his assassination with a gun at the end of the video. We removed the video for violating YouTube's Community Guidelines.
-
The majority of the more than 32,000 individual items that Korean government agencies sought to be removed were search results on google.co.kr that contained RRNs.
-
The number of content removal requests we received increased by 48% compared to the previous reporting period.
-
We received a request from the Ministry of Information, Communication and Technology in Thailand to remove 43 pieces of content because they were mocking or criticizing the king in violation of Thai lèse-majesté laws. We restricted Thai users from accessing these videos.
-
The UK's Office of Fair Trading requested the removal of fraudulent ads that linked to scams. We removed 93,360 items in total.
-
Six court orders resulted in the removal of 1,110 items from Google Groups relating to a case of continuous defamation against a man and his family.
-
We received a request from the Vietnamese government to remove search results on a particular word that generated results that contained allegedly unflattering depictions of past Vietnamese leaders. We declined the request.
January to June 2010
-
The courts in Argentina issued two orders that sought the removal of every search result mentioning a particular individual's name in association with a certain category of content. The number of search results at issue well exceeds 100,000 results. We did not attempt to approximate the number of individual items of content that might be encompassed by those two court orders. Google appealed those orders.
-
More than 50% of content removal requests related to orkut. Atypically, in a non-orkut-related lawsuit, one court ordered removal of more than 18,000 photos from Picasa. The lawsuit alleged that the photos contained images of pages from copyrighted books.
-
The number of content removal requests we received increased by 37% compared to the previous reporting period.
-
During the period that Google's joint venture operated google.cn, its search results were subject to censorship pursuant to requests from government agencies responsible for Internet regulation. Chinese officials consider censorship demands to be state secrets, so we cannot disclose any information about content removal requests for the two reporting periods from July 2009 to June 2010.
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Google Sites was inaccessible during this reporting period, beginning on October 11, 2009.
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YouTube was inaccessible during this reporting period, beginning on March 23, 2009. [Source: New York Times]
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A substantial number of German removal requests resulted from court orders that related to defamation in search results.
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We received a request from a local ministry in Kazakhstan to remove the YouTube channel for a TV channel supportive of the opposition. We did not remove the channel.
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We received 147 requests to remove more than 1,000 YouTube videos. We removed a portion of the videos for violating YouTube's Community Guidelines but did not remove the rest of the videos.
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YouTube was inaccessible during this reporting period, beginning on January 23, 2010. [Source: Global Voices]
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The majority of the more than 15,000 individual URLs that Korean government agencies sought to be removed were search results on google.co.kr that contained RRNs.
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The number of content removal requests we received increased by 47% compared to the previous reporting period.
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The number of content removal requests we received increased by 75% compared to the previous reporting period.
July to December 2009
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A federal prosecutor claimed that information about him and his wife (a federal judge) had been posted for analysis on two political blogs and asked that we remove them. We removed a portion of one of the blogs for revealing private information about the judge, but did not remove further content from the blogs as it did not violate our internal policies.
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The majority of the Brazilian requests for removal of content from orkut related to alleged impersonation or defamation.
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We received a request from a Canadian politician to remove a blog criticizing his policies. We declined to remove the blog because it did not violate our policies.
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During the period that Google's joint venture operated google.cn, its search results were subject to censorship pursuant to requests from government agencies responsible for Internet regulation. Chinese officials consider censorship demands to be state secrets, so we cannot disclose any information about content removal requests for the two reporting periods from July 2009 to June 2010.
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Blogger was inaccessible during this reporting period, beginning on June 1, 2009. [Source: Danwei]
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Google Sites was inaccessible during this reporting period, beginning on October 11, 2009.
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YouTube was inaccessible during this reporting period, beginning on March 23, 2009. [Source: New York Times]
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A substantial number of German removal requests resulted from court orders that related to defamation in search results. Approximately 11% of the German removal requests are related to pro-Nazi content or content advocating denial of the Holocaust, both of which are illegal under German law.
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In the last half of 2009, the majority of Indian requests for removal of content from orkut related to alleged impersonation or defamation.
Google Sites was inaccessible during this reporting period, beginning on October 11, 2009. 
Transparency Report