Google Asked to Remove 10B "Pirate" Search Results

Rightsholders have requested Google to remove over 10 billion URLs deemed to infringe copyright from its search results. This significant milestone reflects a dramatic increase in DMCA takedown requests over the years, with Google processing a record number of notices recently. Initially, the volume of requests was in the millions, but it surged to billions by 2016. Although there was a temporary decline in requests due to improved anti-piracy algorithms, the numbers have since rebounded, with Google now handling approximately 2.5 billion takedown requests annually. The nature of the requests has also evolved; while torrent sites were once the primary targets, file-hosting services and streaming portals have become more prevalent. Publishers now account for over half of the reported URLs, indicating a shift in focus towards combating piracy in the publishing sector. A small number of rightsholders and domains contribute significantly to the total requests, with the top ten rightsholders responsible for 40% of the reported links. Despite the high number of takedown requests, it remains unclear how many URLs have actually been removed from Google's search index.

- Rightsholders have requested the removal of over 10 billion URLs from Google.

- The volume of DMCA takedown requests has surged dramatically over the years.

- Publishers now represent more than half of the reported URLs, reflecting a shift in anti-piracy focus.

- A small group of rightsholders accounts for a significant portion of the takedown requests.

- The actual number of URLs removed from Google's search index is not clearly documented.