Google ordered to remove links to right to be forgotten
Google ordered to remove links to âright to be forgottenâ
Published: 12:23 pm Aug 24, 2015
LONDON: Google has been ordered by the Information Commissionerâs office to remove nine links to current news stories about older reports which themselves were removed from search results under the âright to be forgottenâ ruling. The search engine had previously removed links relating to a 10 year-old criminal offence by an individual after requests made under the right to be forgotten ruling. Removal of those links from Googleâs search results for the claimantâs name spurred new news posts detailing the removals, which were then indexed by Googleâs search engine. Google refused to remove links to these later news posts, which included details of the original criminal offence, despite them forming part of search results for the claimantâs name, arguing that they are an essential part of a recent news story and in the public interest. Google now has 35 days from the 18 August to remove the links from its search results for the claimantâs name. Google has the right to appeal to the General Regulatory Chamber against the notice. Deputy Commissioner David Smith said, âThe European court ruling last year was clear that links prompted by searching on an individualâs name are subject to data protection rules. That means they shouldnât include personal information that is no longer relevant.â The right to be forgotten ruling allows Europeans to apply to remove outdated information about them from search engine listings. Google has approximately a 90 per cent market share of search in Europe. The ruling says that the âcommissioner accepts that the search results in this case relate to journalistic contentâ and âdoes not dispute that journalistic content relating to devisions to delist search results may be newsworthy and in the public interestâ. âThat interest can be adequately and properly met without a search made on the basis of the complainantâs nameâ, the ruling concluded. Smith said, âWe understand that links being removed as a result of this court ruling is something that newspapers want to write about. And we understand that people need to be able to find these stories through search engines like Google. But that does not need them to be revealed when searching on the original complainantâs name.â Google did not respond to request for comment.