Google concedes Guardian link deletions were ‘incorrect’
Google has held its hands up after ‘incorrectly’ deleting links to several Guardian articles online as part of its ongoing efforts to implement an EU ‘right to be forgotten’ directive.
The admission that its early efforts to adjust to this new regulatory environment came from the firm’s chief legal officer, David Drummond, who said that links to several Guardian articles were removed ‘incorrectly’ prior to being reinstated.
Speaking to the Guardian Drummond admitted that Google opposed the ruling, but stressed the search giant was ‘doing its very best to comply’.
Drummond said: “Of course, only two months in, our process is still very much a work in progress," he wrote. "It's why we incorrectly removed links to an article last week (since been reinstated). But the good news is that the ongoing, active, debate that's happening will inform the development of our principles, policies and practices, in particular about how to balance one person's right to privacy with another's right to know."
Under the so called ‘right to be forgotten’ rule Google is obligated to remove links to content deemed to be ‘inadequate, irrelevant or … excessive’ – but thus far quantifying what this means has led to many early hiccups.
In an attempt to resolve such issues Google has established an advisory panel including experts such as Wikipedia’s Jimmy Wales and Le Monde’s editorial director Sylvie Kauffmann.