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- Google received more than 115,000 requests for the removal of content from governments around the world between July 2009 and July 2018.
- Using data from the search engine, UK internet-research site Comparitech analyzed all government content-removal requests received during that period, and ranked the countries by the number of requests made.
- Scroll down to see the 20 countries that made the most content-removal requests, and the reasons they cited.
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Everyone has something they don't want on Google - especially if they're politicians.
Every year, the search engine receives hundreds of requests from governments around the world requesting that content hosted on Google's platforms - be it a blog post, YouTube video, or anything else - be removed. Those requests came in the form of court orders, written requests, and more.
Using Google data, UK internet-research site Comparitech logged all the 115,301 requests the search engine received between July 2009 and July 2018, and the reasons cited for the removal.
Most of the reasons these governments cited were related to national security and defamation, Google reported, adding that it assesses each request, but does not necessary comply with all of them.
Scroll down to see the 20 countries that made the most of these requests, and why they did it:
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