The internet just keeps getting bigger. And the more content goes up, the more there is to take down.
Since 2009, Google has regularly announced the number of content removal requests it receives from national governments and their agencies.
Global removal requests soared in 2016 and have risen nearly every year since – fueled first by national security requests and then by copyright takedowns. That’s right – 2016, the year of Trump and Brexit and the overdue realization that what people say on the internet changes the world.
As the visible element of the internet evolves, the iceberg of takedowns and attempted takedowns grows and grows. Whether it’s a matter of censorship, privacy, or security depends on where you’re sitting – and what you know. But what we do know is how many requests have been made and which countries they’ve come from. Surfshark has analyzed Google’s files to provide, below, more granular context than the official news releases reveal.
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Key Findings
Six of the 10 countries that make the most requests have Defamation as their most common reason.
- In 2020, the USA made the lowest number of removal requests (596) to Google since 2012.
- South Korea made the second-highest number of requests in 2020, nearly doubling its ten-year total.
Image Credit: JHVEPhoto / istockphoto.
Which Countries Ask Google to Remove the Most Content?
Google receives thousands of requests every year from all levels of government to remove online content. From infringement of intellectual property rights to defamation, there are a number of reasons a removal request might be submitted. But where in the world asks Google to remove content the most?
Historically, Russia is by far the most prolific content removal requester, submitting 123,606 requests in total over the past 10 years. Turkey is next up with 14,231 requests which, although the second-highest figure, seems mere in comparison.
The government’s communications watchdog claims Google has been too slow removing material from alleged ‘extremist organizations’ at the same time as restricting YouTube access to Russian media platforms. “This censorship of Russian media and the targeted support for illegal protest activity actually speak to the political coloring of Google’s activities in Russia,” according to the Russian watchdog.
Defamation is the most prevalent cause for requests among the rest of the countries in the table. EU residents can request certain results be omitted from Google Search as part of the poetically-named ‘right to be forgotten.’ However, the US government makes thousands of Defamation-related takedown requests each year, and many of these are aimed at altering search results.
Here are top reasons countries ask google to remove content:
Image Credit: DepositPhotos.com.
20. Vietnam
Top reason: Government Criticism
Requests: 459
Total: 652
Image Credit: monticelllo / istockphoto.
19. Argentina
Top reason: Defamation
Requests: 437
Total: 944
Image Credit: SamyStClair / istockphoto.
18. Japan
Top reason: Defamation
Requests: 774
Total: 987
Image Credit: DepositPhotos.com.
17. Australia
Top reason: Privacy and Security
Requests: 374
Total: 1064
Image Credit: Deposit Photos.
16. Thailand
Top reason: Government Criticism
Requests: 1092
Total: 1147
Image Credit: ake1150sb / iStock.
15. Spain
Top reason: Privacy and Security
Requests: 597
Total: 1149
Image Credit: DepositPhotos.com.
14. Canada
Top reason: Fraud
Requests: 448
Total: 1171
Image Credit: diegograndi/istockphoto.
13. China
Top reason: Violence
Requests: 952
Total: 1252
Image Credit: XIUYUAN YAO / istockphoto.
12. Pakistan
Top reason: Religious Offense
Requests: 912
Total: 1873
Image Credit: Skazzjy/istockphoto.
11. Israel
Top reason: Defamation
Requests: 1307
Total: 2086
Image Credit: WangAnQi / istockphoto.
10. Italy
Top reason: Defamation
Requests: 1179
Total: 2112
Image Credit: DepositPhotos.com.
9. Germany
Top reason: Defamation
Requests: 1978
Total: 3925
Image Credit: bluejayphoto / iStock.
8. France
Top reason: National Security
Requests: 1493
Total: 4231
Image Credit: neirfy / istockphoto.
7. United Kingdom
Top reason: National Security
Requests: 1574
Total: 4387
Image Credit: SHansche / istockphoto.
6. South Korea
Top reason: Other
Requests: 2349
Total: 5330
Image Credit: DepositPhotos.com.
5. Brazil
Top reason: Defamaion
Requests: 3757
Total: 8148
Image Credit: DepositPhotos.com.
4. United States
Top reason: Defamation
Requests: 5793
Total: 9627
Image Credit: DepositPhotos.com.
3. India
Top reason: Defamation
Requests: 2757
Total: 9899
Image Credit: DepositPhotos.com.
2. Turkey
Top reason: Defamation
Requests: 5,543
Total: 14,231
Image Credit: Photosensia / istockphoto.
1. Russia
Russia has made the most takedown requests over the past decade, nearly ten times as many as second-placed Turkey.
Top reason: National Security
Requests: 41,602
Total: 14,231
Image Credit: DepositPhotos.com.
Removal Requests for Search Results Soar in 2020
The platforms most targeted by government requests over the past 10 years and in 2020 were Google Search and YouTube.
These requests came in a historic moment when the tech giants banded with governments to weed out misinformation about the Covid pandemic and vaccinations. Perhaps it is surprising, then, that Blogger takedown requests were below their year-on-year average for this period. Meanwhile, some of the platforms with just a handful of requests indicate the way that contentious information and opinions are embedded in the structure of the web platforms we use: even Maps and Autocomplete receive takedown requests.
Image Credit: DepositPhotos.com.
US Government Removal Requests Down 67.23% Since 2017
Removal requests from the US spiked in the first year of the Trump administration, mostly thanks to a 285.47% rise in fraud-related complaints. Nearly one-in-ten of America’s 3,039,200 fraud victims in 2017 were tricked via internet or phone services. This appears to be the result of retailers and, in turn, fraudsters moving their operations online and the increased IRL security of credit card chips.
The US government is now relatively modest in the number of requests made considering the size and influence of the state. Requests have gradually decreased since 2017. Last year, just 596 requests were made – only the eighth highest total and one below seventh-placed France – resulting in 9,482 removals.
Image Credit: DepositPhotos.com.
Post-Brexit Surge in UK Removal Requests Now Waning
Like the US, the UK saw a spike in removal requests in 2017. But, in the UK’s case, the trend had already begun with a leap in Privacy and Security- and Violence-related requests in 2016, the year of Brexit. Requests in these categories actually shrank again in 2017, but the year’s total remains the UK’s highest due to a 225.66% leap in National Security-themed requests.
In 2020, the UK’s requests reached their lowest since 2014: 200 in total, of which 38% were Defamation-related. These included “a defamation request from the Embassy of Israel [in the UK] to delist a blog post from Google Search claiming a former Ambassador to the United Kingdom engaged in inappropriate sexual relations.” As a result, Google delisted the offending URL from the google.co.uk domain.
Image Credit: DepositPhotos.com.
A Moment on the Lips, A Lifetime in the Archive
You can’t spell ‘contentious’ without ‘content’ – and Google is where many of us go to get that content fix. With a 91.66% cut of all search traffic and with billions of hours of viewing time on Google’s YouTube platform each week, there are bound to be elements of that content that are illegal, embarrassing, or just plain dangerous.
Of course, Google isn’t the only organization to receive takedown requests. Nor does the search giant have the power to remove everything asked of it, even if they wanted to: “Sometimes,” confides Google, “we even receive requests to remove content ‘from the Internet.’”
Image Credit: YouTube.
Methodology & Sources
This study analyzes data from Google’s Transparency Report. We filtered the data by location, volume of requests between 2011-2020, volume of requests in 2020 alone, and the top reason for requests in each country and globally. Our goal was to reveal which government bodies around the world submit the most requests to Google to remove content and why.
Note: Reasons with very low figures were grouped into the “Other” category. These reasons are: Suicide Promotion, Geographical Dispute, Electoral Law, Impersonation, Regulated Goods & Services, Reason Unspecified and Other.
Data was gathered in October 2021.
This article originally appeared on Surfshark.com and was syndicated by MediaFeed.org.
Image Credit: DepositPhotos.com.
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