Google has released a trove of insightful data via its new Transparency Report section. The data includes up-to-date numbers on worldwide traffic to Google services, as well as the number of user data requests that Google receives from governments around the world. But some of the most detailed and interesting data points can be found in the Removal Requests section.
Here you'll find requests from companies that have asked Google to take down URLs for copyright infringement. Who's the most prolific takedown requester? It's Microsoft, which has requested that more than 2.5 million URLs be removed. But here's the kicker: Microsoft has asked Google to remove URLs from its search results, while leaving some of those very same URLs active on its own search engine, Bing.
Techdirt discovered the discrepancy. Specifically, the publication found that Marketly, a reporting organization representing Microsoft, submitted a removal request on May 11 for several URLs relating to XBox 360 games. Techdirt reported that when it searched for one particular URL regarding the game DiRT 2 in Google Search, nothing showed up. It's clear that Google fulfilled Marketly and Microsoft's request. Yet when Techdirt searched for that same URL on Microsoft's Bing, the URL was active.
Wired confirmed Techdirt's findings and tested several other URLs from the same Marketly request. Most of them didn't appear on either Google Search or Microsoft Bing, but we did find another instance where Google showed it had removed results from the page and Bing had not.
It's strange that Marketly and Microsoft would request that Google remove URLs that are still accessible via Microsoft's own search service. Wouldn't Microsoft want to make it just as hard for Bing users to find links that infringe its own copyrights?
I reached out to Microsoft for comment, and a spokesperson offered the following statement: “As a search engine and copyright owner, Microsoft appreciates the need for responsible enforcement online. So each month, Microsoft requests the removal of links to web pages that infringe Microsoft’s copyrights so that customers are not deceived into purchasing or downloading counterfeit software.”
Based on the statement, we would expect Bing to remove all of the same links that Microsoft requests Google Search to remove. Unfortunately, this isn't the case all the time. One reason could be that Microsoft, which recently released a new version of Bing, wants to give itself a slight edge over its largest competitor. But this would be a pretty ineffective method. It's more likely that Microsoft is just slower than Google at fulfilling takedown requests -- even its own.
