Google Processes Five Billion Copyright Requests in 2025
The company saw an unprecedented volume of automated DMCA takedown requests throughout 2025.
Updated on Oct. 20, 2026 in Media
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Google processed over five billion copyright removal requests in 2025 as the volume of automated reporting from rights holders surged. These efforts brought the total number of all-time cumulative takedown requests on the platform to 15.8 billion.
Why it matters
The massive volume of takedown requests is driven by a significant spike in automated reporting bots used by rights holders to police online content. This automated system allows Google to process an average of 10,000 URLs per minute without manual intervention.
Google removed 2.7 billion URLs in 2025, while 3 percent of requests received no action and 8 percent were identified as duplicates. Top reporters included Link-Busters with 3.2 billion reported URLs, Rivendell with 420 million, and MG Premium with 390 million.
The players
Google is a global technology company that specializes in internet-related services, including search, cloud computing, and advertising platforms.
Link-Busters
Link-Busters is an entity that utilizes automated systems to identify and report copyright-infringing content on behalf of rights holders.
Rivendell
Rivendell is a firm that monitors online content and submits large-scale automated copyright removal requests.
MG Premium
MG Premium is a rights protection service that reports massive volumes of URLs for copyright infringement.
The details
Rights holders utilize automated software to scan the web and submit takedown reports, which Google processes through an algorithm that automatically greenlights removals. Roughly 35 percent of all reported URLs were not indexed by Google, while individual entities like Link-Busters currently face a daily submission cap of 10 million requests.
Timeline
In 2011, Google processed 250,000 copyright takedown notices.
By 2024, the all-time total of takedown requests exceeded 10 billion.
During 2025, Google processed more than five billion takedown requests.
The volume of takedown requests is projected to continue growing through 2026.
Market Landscape
The surge in automated reporting illustrates how rights holders have moved from manual enforcement to high-frequency algorithmic policing. This shift cements a competitive arms race between content protection services and those operating or hosting disputed file-sharing domains.
Average users may find that some search results or links to copyrighted content disappear more rapidly than in previous years. This increase in automated removals creates a landscape where online availability of media is increasingly dictated by automated bot submissions rather than manual reviews.
The takeaway
The dramatic increase in copyright requests reflects a total reliance on automation to manage digital intellectual property enforcement. Users and content creators should expect these algorithmic systems to continue dictating the visibility of web content on a massive scale.
Further reading
For broader trends in platform policy and content enforcement, read more in our Media section.
Source note: This article includes information reported by Torrentfreak.
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