UPDATED 07:20 EDT / JULY 18 2014

Bing finally remembers the ‘right to be forgotten’

ForgottenThe so-called “right to be forgotten” has ensured that Google has gotten plenty of attention over the last few weeks, with much of the debate centering on whether it’s right or wrong to abide by the new European ruling.

For its part, Google has made a huge fuss, claiming the law amounts to censorship and could have massive implications if its forced to remove thousands of articles from its search index, erasing a good deal of “history”, as it were. But it’s not just Google that the law applies to – in fact, all search engines have to abide by it.

Now, Microsoft’s almost unheard of (in Europe anyway) search engine Bing has finally come up with a mechanism for people to request that links pertaining to them are removed. The move comes several weeks after Google created its own mechanism, and indeed appears to be the first time Microsoft has even acknowledged the ruling.

That’s probably not surprising, given how embarrasingly weak Bing’s presence in EU nations is. The search engine commands a minuscule 2.5 percent market share, but even more humiliating is the underwhelming response from European searchers in light of the “ right to be forgotten” ruling. To date, Bing has received 12 – that’s right, just 12 – requests for links to be removed, compared to the 12,000-odd requests that Google received in the first few days.

Apparently, those 12 aren’t even guaranteed their links will be removed, according to Microsoft’s request form:

“We may also consider other sources of information beyond this form to verify or supplement the information you provide. This information will help us to consider the balance between your individual privacy interest and the public interest in protecting free expression and the free availability of information, consistent with European law.”

“As a result, making a request does not guarantee that a particular search result will be blocked.”

Just as Google has done, Microsoft is also asking for users to submit some kind of ID when requesting a link deletion. But unlike Google, it hasn’t bothered to place an alert on its site that users may not see all results due to the EU ruling.

Image credit: PublicDomainPictures via Pixabay.com

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