EU: Google wins case as court rules “right to be forgotten”

The EU’s top court has ruled that Google does not need to remove links to sensitive information in all versions of its search engine worldwide when responding to “right to be forgotten” requests. Reuters reports that the European Court of Justice ruled that Google must only remove links in versions of its search engine meant for use in EU member states.

“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,” the court said.

Google was fined €100,000 (around $110,000) by France’s privacy watchdog CNIL back in 2016 for failing to delist search results globally, and not just in Europe. The requests were made as part of the EU’s so-called “right to be forgotten,” a ruling that was first established back in 2014 which says that internet search providers have a responsibility to remove outdated information that is “inadequate, irrelevant or no longer relevant or excessive.”

Full Content: Reuters

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