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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.
After a 2023 ruling in a Swedish court (
), Google has stopped informing website owners what pages it has removed from its search results under European “right to be forgotten” rules (
). Due to the lack of searchable information, we will not post notices that do not contain URL information, however all notices received will continue to be tallied on the ‘Content removal notices for all wikis’ tables listed in this page.
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 Jan 1-June 30, 2019
Notices July 1-Dec 31, 2019
Links removed July 1-Dec 31, 2019
Azerbaijani WP
Basque WP
Bulgarian WP
Catalan WP
Chinese WP
Croatian WP
Danish WP
Dutch WP
English WP
11
14
11
12
14
14
17
17
Simple English WP
English Wikinews
Esperanto WP
Finnish WP
French WP
12
13
French Wikiquote
French Wikiversity
French Wikinews
German WP
German Wikisource
Greek Wikpedia
Hebrew WP
Hungarian WP
Indonesian WP
Italian WP
14
14
Italian Wikinews
Kabyle WP
Malasian WP
Norwegian WP
Polish WP
Romanian WP
Serbian WP
Slovak WP
Slovenian WP
Spanish WP
Turkish Wikipedia
Wiki Commons
Swedish WP
Western Frisian
Wikidata
Wikimedia
Wikinews
Totals
44
48
16
16
16
17
12
12
19
22
12
12
12
29
34
35
36
69
106
63
72
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 Notices Jan 1-June 30, 2024
Azerbaijani WP
Basque WP
Bulgarian WP
Catalan WP
Chinese WP
Croatian WP
Danish WP
Dutch WP
English WP
10
10
12
12
32
34
26
26
28
28
31
31
46
46
85
113
Simple English WP
English Wikiversity
English Wikinews
Esperanto WP
Finnish WP
French WP
16
16
10
10
14
14
24
25
24
24
18
18
39
39
French Wikiquote
French Wikiversity
French Wikinews
German WP
13
13
14
14
29
33
17
17
10
10
62
62
German Wikinews
German Wikiversity
German Wikisource
Greek Wikpedia
Hebrew WP
Hungarian WP
Indonesian WP
Italian WP
11
11
10
10
10
10
Italian Wikinews
Kabyle WP
Norwegian WP
Polish WP
Portuguese WP
Romanian WP
Serbian WP
Slovak WP
Slovenian WP
Spanish WP
19
19
Turkish Wikipedia
Wiki Commons
15
15
13
13
15
15
12
12
18
18
17
17
Swedish WP
Western Frisian
Wikidata
Wikimedia
Wikinews
Wikipedia
46
46
Totals
32
32
61
61
70
70
65
65
74
76
100
100
124
129
148
148
161
161
236
264
Projects Affected
Notices July 1-Dec 31, 2025
Links removed July 1-Dec 31, 2025
Notices Jan 1-June 30, 2025
Links removed Jan 1-June 30, 2025
Notices Jan 1-June 30, 2026
Links removed Jan 1-June 30, 2026
Amharic WP
Azerbaijani WP
Basque WP
Bulgarian WP
Catalan WP
Chinese WP
Croatian WP
Danish WP
Dutch WP
10
10
English WP
39
39
35
35
43
45
Simple English WP
English Wikinews
Esperanto WP
Estonian WP
Finnish WP
French WP
17
17
19
19
34
34
French Wikinews
German WP
15
15
German Wikinews
German Wikisource
Greek WP
Hebrew WP
Hungarian WP
Indonesian WP
Italian WP
12
12
Italian Wikinews
Latvian WP
Macedonian WP
Norwegian WP
Polish WP
Portuguese WP
Romanian WP
Russian WP
Serbian WP
Slovak WP
Slovenian WP
Spanish WP
10
10
Turkish WP
Ukrainian WP
Commons
10
10
37
37
Swedish WP
West Flemish WP
Wikidata
12
Wikimedia
Wikinews
Wikipedia
35
35
89
89
Totals
180
180
242
249
147
149
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
Portuguese Wikipedia
Romanian Wikipedia
Serbian Wikipedia
Slovak Wikipedia
Slovenian Wikipedia
Spanish Wikipedia
Swedish Wikipedia
Turkish Wikipedia
Western Frisian
Wikidata
Wikimedia Commons
Wikinews (English)
Wikinews (French)
Wikipedia
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
Governance pages (e.g., Requests for deletion pages, Arbcom cases, etc.)
58
User pages
11
10
10
Totals
20
76
13
16
10
11
16
21
21
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