Judges puts limits on online 'right to be forgotten'

The European Union's highest court has ruled that Google is only obliged to uphold the right to be forgotten on the internet in Europe, and not worldwide.

In 2015, France's Commission nationale de l'informatique et des libertes, an independent French administrative regulatory body also known as CNIL, ordered the online search engine to remove damaging or false information about people on a worldwide basis. The following year Google introduced a block on European users, but did not apply it to other territories, leading to CNIL attempting to fine it 100,000 euros ($109,900).

Google, supported by groups and organizations including Microsoft and the owners of Wikipedia, challenged this at the European Court of Justice. The court has now ruled "Currently, there is no obligation under EU law, for a search engine operator who grants a request for de-referencing made by a data subject ... to carry out such a de-referencing on all the versions of its search engine".

In addition to the technology business aspect, there was also considerable legal interest in the case, because had the ruling gone against Google, it could have been interpreted as an attempt by Europe to extend its powers beyond the boundaries of the EU.

Since 2014, European citizens have had a right to request the deletion of sensitive personal information, the so-called right to be forgotten, by making a request verbally or in writing for an organization to remove the material in question, with a set time limit for any response.

The 2018 General Data Protection Regulation rules further complicated the issue, and Google's defense against using it outside Europe was that it could be abused by authoritarian regimes looking to hush up human rights abuses.

"The balance between right to privacy and protection of personal data, on the one hand, and the freedom of information of internet users, on the other, is likely to vary significantly around the world," added the court's ruling.

Google gave a positive reaction to the verdict. "Since 2014, we've worked hard to implement the right to be forgotten in Europe, and to strike a sensible balance between people's rights of access to information and privacy," said a statement from the company. "It's good to see that the court agreed with our arguments."

Thomas Hughes, from freedom of expression organization Article 19 who supported Google's case, also welcomed the ruling.

"Courts or data regulators in the UK, France or Germany should not be able to determine the search results that internet users in America, India or Argentina get to see," he said. "It is not right that one country's data protection authorities can impose their interpretation on Internet users around the world."

Over the last five years, Google said it has received 845,501 right to be forgotten requests, resulting in 45 percent of the 3.3 million referred links being removed. The content is not deleted altogether, but it can no longer be accessed by searching for the name of the person in question.