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back-end takedown privileges for trusted rightsholders” (Urban et al. 2016,
p. 29).

In their quantitative analysis, Urban and colleagues documented
considerable error in DMCA operations. Among notices submitted to Google
web search, for example, they found questionable legal claims in 28 percent
(Urban et al. 2016, p. 88). Some 4.2 percent – which extrapolates to 4.5 million
requests across the six-month dataset – seemed to be simple errors, requesting
removal of material that did not relate to the notiﬁer’s legal claim (Urban et al.
2016, p. 88). Among notices submitted to Google’s image search product, the
ﬁgure was 38 percent (Urban et al. 2016, pp. 98–99). Fully 70 percent of image
search notices were called into serious doubt if calculations included one
individual’s barrage of improper takedown demands (Urban et al. 2016, pp.
98–99).13
Social_Media_and_Democracy