Google begins removing search results after EU court ruling

Google has begun removing some search results to comply with a European Union ruling upholding citizens' right to have objectionable personal information about them hidden in search engines.

Several weeks after the May ruling by the European Court of Justice on the so-called "right to be forgotten," the company set up an online interface for users to register their complaints.

"This week we're starting to take action on removals requests that we've received," a Google spokesman, Al Verney said on Thursday. "This is a new process for us. Each request has to be assessed individually and we're working as quickly as possible to get through the queue."

Google received over 41,000 requests over four days after it put up an online form allowing Europeans to request that search results be removed.

The company is not releasing information on what percentage of complaints appear to fall into areas the court specified as potentially objectionable: results that are "inadequate, irrelevant or no longer relevant."

Europe's national data protection agencies have said they expect a mixed bag of 'legitimate' complaints, as well as some that are clearly not and some borderline cases.