At a time when the European Union is pushing ahead with what has been called the "right to be forgotten," Internet portal Yahoo Japan Corp. said Friday it is considering creating a new policy on the removal of search results.
If the nation's most popular Internet portal adopts new policies regarding online references to individuals, the broader industry may follow suit.
Currently Yahoo Japan in principle refuses to respond to requests to remove search results except for certain cases involving past crimes. Instead, it has deferred to court decisions on the grounds that one company alone cannot decide what society should and should not have access to, a Yahoo Japan executive said.