Google Wins ‘Right To Be Forgotten’ Case

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled that Google does not have to apply the ‘right to be forgotten’ worldwide, only in Europe. This means that Google must remove outdated information or irrelevant links from the European version of its search results, but not globally, after receiving an appropriate request for the removal.

The case arose back in 2015, when French data regulator, CNIL, ordered Google to remove search results and de-list links worldwide because they contained damaging or false information about a person and broke EU law. Subsequently, in 2016, Google implemented a geo-blocking feature which prevented users in Europe from being able to see delisted links. However, Google refused to the censoring of search results outside of Europe. As a result, CNIL fined Google €100,000 and the ECJ’s hearing represented Google’s appeal against the fine that CNIL tried to impose.

The ‘right to be forgotten’ also known as the ‘right to erasure’ derives from the 2014 Google Spain v AEPD and Mario Costeja González case, where it was ruled that individuals had the right to request from search engines, the removal of out-of-date or embarrassing information and search engines had an obligation to remove such information. The ECJ’s ruling in the Google v CNIL case has been described as a “landmark” as it establishes that search engines have no obligation to remove such information outside of Europe. The right to be forgotten has been codified under Article 17 of the General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (GDPR). Individuals have the right to have their personal data erased if the personal data is no longer required for the original processing purpose, the individual withdraws their consent and there is no other legal basis for the processing of the data, the individual has objected to the processing of their data and there is no overriding legitimate grounds to continue processing or erasure is necessary to fulfil a statutory obligation under EU law.

The ‘right to be forgotten’ seeks to protect your personal data. It can prevent search engines from using information that is damaging or false. If you require legal assistance regarding the ‘right to be forgotten’ or have any other GDPR concern, then please do not hesitate to contact our Business Services Department who will be happy to assist. 01908 660966 or businessservices@franklins-sols.co.uk.