Bing to censor Bing.com in the EU for Right To Be Forgotten searches

According to the announcement, Bing's updated RTBF policy for the EU will use location-based signals to remove relevant URLs on all versions of Bing.

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Bing announced today it has updated its policy around Right To Be Forgotten requests in the EU.

According to the announcement, Right To Be Forgotten material in the EU will be censored even on Bing.com, a change from its past policy around RTBF requests.

Previously, Bing removed material from its country-specific versions, such as Bing.fr for France, or Bing.co.uk for the United Kingdom. However, people in those countries who went to Bing.com would still find Right to be Forgotten material.

With the policy updates, that is no longer the case.

[blockquote cite =”Bing Search Blog”]Going forward, in addition to this practice, Bing will also use location-based signals (e.g., IP addresses) to delist the relevant URL on all versions of Bing, including Bing.com, for any user accessing Bing from the European country where the request originated. For example, if someone in France successfully requests delisting of a URL on Bing, in addition to delisting that URL from all applicable European versions of Bing, Bing will now also delist that URL for all searches of that person’s name — regardless of what version of Bing is being used — if the search originates from a location within France.[/blockquote]

Bing added that these changes will be applied to all valid European RTBF requests, including requests made prior to the policy updates.


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About the author

Amy Gesenhues
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Amy Gesenhues was a senior editor for Third Door Media, covering the latest news and updates for Search Engine Land, MarTech and MarTech Today. From 2009 to 2012, she was an award-winning syndicated columnist for a number of daily newspapers from New York to Texas. With more than ten years of marketing management experience, she has contributed to a variety of traditional and online publications, including MarketingProfs, SoftwareCEO, and Sales and Marketing Management Magazine. Read more of Amy's articles.

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