Legal:Notices received from search engines
For context, see these two blog posts:
- "Wikipedia pages censored in European search results" (by Wikimedia Foundation General Counsel Geoff Brigham and Legal Counsel Michelle Paulson, August 6, 2014)
- "European court decision punches holes in free knowledge" (by Wikimedia Foundation Executive Director Lila Tretikov, August 6, 2014)
Notices received from search engines
The information below details notices received by the Wikimedia Foundation when search engines intend to indefinitely remove links to Wikipedia articles and other online Wikimedia media content from their results. We have also received removal notices concerning other types of pages, such as discussion and user pages. The number of links removed for each type of page for which we have received removal notices can be found in the table below.
We do not know who requested each removal. Please note that the subject of the affected webpage may not be the individual or organization that made the underlying request -- we believe anyone can request the removal of a webpage from search results.
The community is, as always, free to exercise its editorial discretion and address the referred content as appropriate under community policies and practices. Search engines do not inform delisted service providers (like us) what search terms we have been delisted for, or the reason for the delisting, so we do not know whether specific changes to the content might affect the delisting.
We are not aware of other search engines' processes or the number of requests they are receiving and granting. Search engines are not required by law to provide notices, so we appreciate the companies who share our commitment to free speech and transparency. Compelled censorship is unacceptable, but compelled censorship without notice is unforgivable.
Content removal notices for all wikis
| Projects Affected | Notices July 1-Dec 31, 2014 | Links removed July 1-Dec 31, 2014 | Notices Jan 1-June 30, 2015 | Links removed Jan 1-June 30, 2015 | Notices July 1-Dec 31, 2015 | Links removed July 1-Dec 31, 2015 | Notices Jan 1-June 30, 2016 | Links removed Jan 1-June 30, 2016 | Notices July 1-Dec 31, 2016 | Links removed July 1-Dec 31, 2016 | Notices Jan 1-June 30, 2017 | Links removed June 1-June 30, 2017 | Notices July 1-Dec 31, 2017 | Links removed July 1-Dec 31, 2017 | Notices Jan 1-June 30, 2018 | Links removed Jan 1-June 30, 2018 | Notices July 1-Dec 31, 2018 | Links removed July 1-Dec 31, 2018 | Notices Jan 1-June 30, 2019 | Links removed July 1-Dec 31, 2019 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Azerbaijani WP | 1 | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Basque WP | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||||
| Bulgarian WP | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||||
| Catalan WP | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||||
| Chinese WP | 1 | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Croatian WP | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ||||||||||
| Danish WP | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | ||||||||||
| Dutch WP | 4 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | ||||||||
| English WP | 7 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 11 | 14 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 11 | 12 | 15 | 15 | |
| English Wikinews | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
| Esperanto WP | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||||
| Finnish WP | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | ||||||
| French WP | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 10 | 11 | |
| French Wikiquote | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||||
| French Wikiversity | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||||
| French Wikinews | 1 | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||
| German WP | 6 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 7 | 7 | |
| German Wikisource | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||||
| Greek Wikpedia | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||||||||
| Hebrew WP | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ||||||||||||
| Hungarian WP | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | ||||||||||
| Indonesian WP | 1 | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Italian WP | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | ||||
| Italian Wikinews | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ||||||||||
| Kabyle WP | 1 | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Norwegian WP | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | ||||||||
| Polish WP | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ||||||||||
| Romanian WP | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||||
| Serbian WP | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||||||||
| Slovak WP | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||||
| Slovenian WP | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ||||||||||
| Spanish WP | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | ||||||||
| Turkish Wikipedia | 1 | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Wiki Commons | 7 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | ||||||
| Swedish WP | 1 | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Western Frisian | 2 | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Wikidata | 1 | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Wikimedia | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||||
| Wikinews | 2 | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Totals | 44 | 48 | 16 | 16 | 16 | 17 | 12 | 12 | 19 | 22 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 29 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 51 | 52 |
| Projects Affected | Notices July 1-Dec 31, 2020 | Links removed July 1-Dec 31, 2020 | Notices Jan 1-June 30, 2020 | Links removed Jan 1-June 30, 2020 | Notices July 1-Dec 31, 2021 | Links removed July 1-Dec 31, 2021 | Notices Jan 1-June 30, 2021 | Links removed Jan 1-June 30, 2021 | Notices July 1-Dec 31, 2022 | Links removed July 1-Dec 31, 2022 | Notices Jan 1-June 30, 2022 | Links removed June 1-June 30, 2022 | Notices July 1-Dec 31, 2023 | Links removed July 1-Dec 31, 2023 | Notices Jan 1-June 30, 2023 | Links removed Jan 1-June 30, 2023 | Notices July 1-Dec 31, 2024 | Links removed July 1-Dec 31, 2024 | Notices Jan 1-June 30, 2024 | Links removed July 1-Dec 31, 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Azerbaijani WP | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Basque WP | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Bulgarian WP | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Catalan WP | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Chinese WP | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Croatian WP | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Danish WP | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Dutch WP | ||||||||||||||||||||
| English WP | 14 | 14 | 8 | 8 | ||||||||||||||||
| English Wikinews | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Esperanto WP | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Finnish WP | ||||||||||||||||||||
| French WP | 10 | 11 | 7 | 7 | ||||||||||||||||
| French Wikiquote | ||||||||||||||||||||
| French Wikiversity | ||||||||||||||||||||
| French Wikinews | ||||||||||||||||||||
| German WP | 14 | 15 | 16 | 16 | ||||||||||||||||
| German Wikisource | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Greek Wikpedia | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Hebrew WP | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Hungarian WP | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Indonesian WP | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Italian WP | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Italian Wikinews | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Kabyle WP | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Norwegian WP | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Polish WP | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Romanian WP | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Serbian WP | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Slovak WP | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Slovenian WP | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Spanish WP | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Turkish Wikipedia | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Wiki Commons | 6 | 6 | 2 | 2 | ||||||||||||||||
| Swedish WP | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Western Frisian | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Wikidata | 3 | 3 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Wikimedia | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Wikinews | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Totals |
English Wikipedia
Azerbaijani Wikipedia
Basque Wikipedia
Chinese Wikipedia
Croatian Wikipedia
Danish Wikipedia
Dutch Wikipedia
Finnish Wikipedia
French Wikipedia
French Wikiversity
Esperanto Wikipedia
German Wikipedia
Greek Wikipedia
Hebrew Wikipedia
Hungarian Wikipedia
Indonesian Wikipedia
Italian Wikipedia
Italian Wikinews
Kabyle Wikipedia
Norwegian Wikipedia
Polish Wikipedia
Romanian Wikipedia
Serbian Wikipedia
Slovak Wikipedia
Slovenian Wikipedia
Spanish Wikipedia
Swedish Wikipedia
Turkish Wikipedia
Western Frisian
Wikidata
Wikimedia Commons
Wikinews (English)
Wikinews (French)
Non content removal notices for all wikis
| Other types of pages removed from search results | Notices July 1-Dec 31, 2014 | Links removed July 1-Dec 31, 2014 | Notices Jan 1-June 30, 2015 | Links removed Jan 1-June 30, 2015 | Notices July 1-Dec 31, 2015 | Links removed July 1-Dec 31, 2015 | Notices Jan 1-June 30, 2016 | Links removed Jan 1-June 30, 2016 | Notices July 1-Dec 31, 2016 | Links removed July 1-Dec 31, 2016 | Notices Jan 1- June 30, 2017 | Links removed Jan 1 - June 30, 2017 | Notices July 1 - Dec 31, 2017 | Links removed July 1-Dec 31, 2017 | Notices Jan 1- June 30, 2018 | Links removed Jan 1 - June 30, 2018 | Notices July 1 - Dec 31, 2018 | Links removed July 1-Dec 31, 2018 | Notices Jan 1- June 30, 2019 | Links removed Jan 1 - June 30, 2019 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Discussion pages | 6 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 4 | 4 | 8 | 8 |
| Governance pages (e.g., Requests for deletion pages, Arbcom cases, etc.) | 6 | 58 | 5 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 8 | 8 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| User pages | 8 | 11 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 10 | 10 |
| Totals | 20 | 76 | 13 | 16 | 6 | 6 | 9 | 10 | 8 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 11 | 16 | 9 | 9 | 21 | 21 |