A little more than a year ago, Google was obliged to do so by the European Court of Justice (ECJ , judgment of 13.05.2014 – C-131/12) To follow up on requests for deletion from users. From now on, everyone should have a right to the deletion of links in the results list of a search in order to protect their privacy if the personal rights of the persons concerned are violated by these links. Google provides requestors with a form that can be used to claim the right to erasure. The requestor must provide his or her name, email address, the links to be deleted, and reasons that make the deletion claim understandable. However, experts disagree on the extent to which the "right to be forgotten" should exist. For example, some argue that Google is only subject to a Europe-wide deletion obligation. Others, however, plead for a worldwide implementation of the adjudicated "right to be forgotten", as only in this way the protection of privacy can be achieved.
Google refuses to grant "right to be forgotten" worldwide
The French data protection authority CNIL, sees Google's approach of only granting deletion requests Europe-wide as insufficient, as links to unpleasant content continue to be seen on non-European Google pages, thus circumventing the content of the ECJ ruling. As a result, in June 2015, the data protection authority ordered Google to delete content worldwide.
Google, however, refuses to comply with the CNIL's request and argues that there is no legal obligation to implement the "right to be forgotten" beyond the European area, therefore only entries from European offers of the search engine operator will be deleted. Google released this statement on 30.07.2015 on its blog. Google asked the CNIL to withdraw the formal request and commented as follows:
"We believe that no country should have the authority to control what someone in another country can access"
Google's objection, which has now been lodged, is currently being examined by the French data protection authority. One reserves the right to also impose penalties on Google, A spokeswoman for the CNIL commented on 31.07.2015 as follows on the objection of the search engine operator.
"We have taken note of Google's arguments, which are largely political in nature. CNIL, on the other hand, has relied on strictly legal reasoning"
Within 2 months, the data protection authority must now comment on the objection.
Data privacy activists continue to insist on global erasure rights
German data protection experts also believe that all European citizens have a right to the "right to be forgotten" worldwide, so that Google should also accept deletion requests on its international sites such as Google.com must refer to. Otherwise the decision of the ECJ would be undermined. After all, the Internet makes it possible to retrieve content worldwide with just a few clicks. Therefore, real protection of privacy and against unauthorized dissemination of personal data could only occur if the association of search results and the name of the applicant in the form of links were deleted worldwide. The German data protection authorities, however, first want to wait for the proceedings initiated in France. The ECJ may have to deal with the matter again.
Conclusion:
It remains to be seen how further developments will unfold. In any case, the view of the European data protectors is of course convincing, since the principle of the "right to be forgotten" intended by the ECJ ruling and the accompanying protection of the personal rights of everyone can only be achieved consistently if deletion requests also refer to non-European search results of Google. The Internet is to be understood as a unit. It is almost intrinsic to it to have access to worldwide offers, no matter where the Internet user is at the moment. Contents can be forgotten therefore only, if they are nowhere more discoverable. Therefore, it can only mean that a worldwide implementation will be enforced, so that it will only be a matter of time when Google will be explicitly obligated to do so.
Would you also like to have unpleasant content and search results deleted from the Internet and check in advance whether a deletion claim exists?. Please feel free to contact me via the contact form, by e-mail or phone. As a lawyer, I specialize in media law, in particular in general personality law. I will examine your request, formulate requests for deletion and take over all correspondence with the other party.