Google has bowed to a European court ruling which upheld the "right to be forgotten" online.

The search engine giant has introduced a mechanism for people to request the censorship of links to other internet sites which they believe contains outdated or damaging information.

Each request will see Google weigh the privacy rights of an individual against the public's right to know.

CEO and Co-Founder, Larry Page 

The online request form asks for copies of the URL complained of, reasons the search results should be removed, and photo ID to prove an individual's identity.

It is unclear how long the requests will take to process.

Chief executive Larry Page has warned the new privacy rules will make it hard for internet start-ups, and be exploited by repressive governments.

He told the Financial Times: "We're a big company and we can respond to these kind of concerns and spend money on them and deal with them, it's not a problem for us.

"But as a whole, as we regulate the internet, I think we're not going to see the kind of innovation we've seen."

He added: "It will be used by other governments that aren't as forward and progressive as Europe to do bad things.

"Other people are going to pile on, probably … for reasons most Europeans would find negative."