Google asked to remove 100 million 'piracy' links in 2013

Google has received requests to remove more than 100 million links since January 2013 for web pages deemed to be in breach of copyright laws.

That is double the number it received for the whole of 2012 and a sign that publishers are stepping up their battle against internet piracy.

Copyright holders send millions of "takedown" requests to Google every week in an attempt to make pirated material harder to access online.

But critics say the approach is wrong.

"As soon as you take down one page another pops up in its place," says Mark Mulligan, a technology analyst at Midia Consulting. "It's like playing Whac-A-Mole."