Landmark legislation which offered people the chance to have personal information removed from search engines is being side-stepped by tech-savvy internet users.

The ‘right to be forgotten’ is based on the premise that outdated information about people should be removed from the internet after a certain time, following a European court decision in May.

Journalists have since reported articles and blog posts being removed after the subjects complained, prompting accusations of press censorship.

However, others have been able to keep hold of links to their archive having used the Google.com search engine, rather than the .co.uk domain bound by the European rules.

Proponents of the court decision say it gives individuals the possibility to restore their reputation by deleting references to old debts, past arrests and other episodes.

They also note that the court specified Google should not remove links to information when the public’s right to know about it outweighs an individual’s right to privacy − for example when a politician or public figure seeks to clean online records.

The purge of search results will apply to Google’s local search pages covering the EU’s 28 member nations and four other European countries, encompassing more than 500 million people.

Google is only deleting information that appears on its own results pages. It has no control over information on external websites

Users in Europe who switch to the firm’s American domain, Google.com, will find unaltered search results.

Google is only deleting information that appears on its own results pages. It has no control over information on external websites, which did not fall under the court’s ruling.

The internet giant said each application on average asks for the removal of almost four links, meaning experts have to evaluate more than a quarter of a million requests.

The company last month said it had received about 50,000 requests since the May ruling. Since that time, another 20,000 requests have come in. It says it currently receives about 1,000 requests for removal per day.