France has effectively closed a loop-hole that had allowed Google to continue showing content that had been subject to a "link removal request". This leaves Google no room to manoeuvre in Europe , meaning that it will face fines of 300,000 for a first offence, and € 300,000 thereafter. Google had been claiming that by removing the content from its European domained search engines (google.fr, google.co.uk,...) it was in compliance, despite leaving the content visible on google.com.
France has effectively closed a loop-hole that had allowed Google to continue showing content that had been subject to a "link removal request". This leaves Google no room to manoeuvre in Europe, meaning that it will face fines of up to €150,000 for a first offence, and €300,000 thereafter. Google had been claiming that by removing the content from its European domained search engines (google.fr, google.co.uk,...) it was in compliance, despite leaving the content visible on google.com.