When I’m not writing for National Review, I’m editing for National Review. In the course of fact-checking a guest contributor’s article that discussed social media and censorship in the United States, I had to verify a quote that was attributed to Mark Zuckerberg, wherein he discussed the Biden administration’s pressure tactics against Facebook during the pandemic. But I ran into a problem because I’m living in England.
On Google, I searched for the following: “Zuckerberg ‘take down things we knew were true,’” which was simply the relevant surname and the quote that had been provided in the contributor’s draft. Weirdly, Google did not provide a single result. Instead of a long list of relevant articles, I saw this message: “Some results may have been removed under data protection law in Europe. Learn more.” The link attached to “learn more” led me to a Google website about its policies in response to a ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union. The policy website informed me that “when you search for a name, you may see a notice that says that results may have been modified in accordance with data protection law in Europe.”
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