Google boss Larry Page says ‘right to be forgotten’ ruling could be abused by governments and damage start-ups' future

“It will be used by other governments that aren’t as forward and progressive as Europe to do bad things,” warned Page. “Other people are going to pile on, probably… for reasons most Europeans would find negative,” he told The Guardian.

Google has reportedly received “a few thousand” requests from people in Europe – mainly public figures wishing to have embarrassing personal information removed. This number is expected to rocket now it has launched the formal application process.

The EU Court of Justice made its decision on people's ' right to be forgotten; earlier this month, when it ruled that Google and other search engines must delete "inadequate, irrelevant of no longer relevant" data from its results, when requested to do so by members of the public.

The ruling prompted a swift response from Google, which set up a web page where people can make requests to have information about them deleted from search results, earlier this week. The search giant promised this would just be the initial effort to address the ruling.

Advertising body ISBA later praised the search giant's efforts to address the ruling by setting up the web form through which European citizens can appeal to have information removed. It called it “a pragmatic response to a flawed ruling".

ISBA’s director of public affairs, said that the ‘right to be forgotten’ ruling had triggered "serious concerns" among advertisers about how practical and costly the removal of such data could be and the level of fines anyone defying the ruling could face.

Brands and agencies previously questioned the ruling and what it may mean for the future of search, online publishing and brands.