The European Court of Justice made a decision. the user has the right to request that Google or another search engine remove the page from its results if it proves that it contains information.clearly inaccurate”“. A ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) on Thursday sets out the conditions under which the right to be forgotten under the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is exercised.
The court was seized by Germany’s Federal Court of Justice to resolve a conflict between two executives of Google and a group of investment firms. Engine refused to remove links “some articles critical of this group’s investment model“. According to these executives, these articles critical of the group’s investment model contain inaccurate claims.
Right to be forgotten and right to freedom of speech
Google justified its refusal by the fact that it did not know whether the information contained in the articles was correct or not.
The German court asked the ECtHR for an opinion on the balance between the right to be forgotten and the right to freedom of information.
According to the CJEU, in the case of a delisting request that “presents relevant and sufficient evidence (…) to support the manifestly inaccurate nature of the information contained in the content”.search engine”is required to grant this delisting request“.
“LThe right to freedom of speech and information cannot be taken into account when at least some of the information contained in the cited content, which is not insignificant, is proven to be inaccurate.“, the Court insists.
“A sensible balance»
To avoid placing an undue burden on plaintiffs, the justices stated that such proof of inaccuracy need not result from a judgment against the website’s publishers, and that users need only present evidence that they could “reasonablydemand from them.
If, on the other hand, the user is unable to prove the obvious inaccuracy of the content in question, it is up to the search engine to respond or not to the takedown request.
The Court also recalls that the obligation of the operators stops at the elements elaborated in the reference request and that they are under no circumstances obliged to “active rolein finding facts that are not supported by the delisting request.
“Since 2014, we have worked hard to implement the right to be forgotten in Europe and to find a reasonable balance between people’s rights of access to information and privacy.said a Google representative.
The German Federal Court must now incorporate this interpretation of European law into its final decision.
Source: Le Figaro
I am Ben Stock, a passionate and experienced digital journalist working in the news industry. At the Buna Times, I write articles covering technology developments and related topics. I strive to provide reliable information that my readers can trust. My research skills are top-notch, as well as my ability to craft engaging stories on timely topics with clarity and accuracy.