Does the Right to be Forgotten extend beyond the EU?

The right to be forgotten is now a well known feature of our technical lives, but how far does it extend and can you ever really remove all unwanted online material?

What is the right to be forgotten?

The right to be forgotten is a mechanism that allows individuals to apply to search engines, to have unwanted results removed from a search of their name. 

The right to be forgotten was established by the European Court of Justice in 2014 and requires search engines such as Google, Bing and Yahoo to remove links that appear when searching applicant’s name that are considered irrelevant, outdated or otherwise inappropriate.

The different search engines all have different ways in which applications can be made to them.

How far does the right to be forgotten go?

A case between France’s National Commission for Information Technology and Civil Liberties (CNIL) and Google determined that the right to be forgotten, as defined by the European Court of Justice in 2014, should not apply outside of the European Union. CNIL fined Google for not removing links across its entire domain when searching for the applicant’s name, because Google had only removed search results from Google's various search engines within the EU member states.

Google argued that it did not have a duty to remove links on its search engine for non-EU members such as the USA or China. The advocate general, Maciej Szpunar, agreed with this and made the following statement: 

"The fundamental right to be forgotten must be balanced against other fundamental rights, such as the right to data protection and the right to privacy, as well as the legitimate public interest in accessing the information sought."

Although this is not binding on the European Court of Justice it will certainly influence their decision and may set a precedent as to whether the right to be forgotten is enforceable outside of the EU.

The case means that for the time being, individuals who are based outside of the EU (and England and Wales) cannot use the right to be forgotten procedure. However, the search engines ensure that if someone tries to circumvent the controls and carries out searches from within the EU using a non-EU domain search engine, the results would still be blocked.

Judith Thompson, partner with responsibility for reputation management issues at Samuels Solicitors, says: "applicants to Google for the right to be forgotten should assume that if their application is successful, the results will be removed within Europe only. Unless and until there is a similar case in another country such as the USA, looking at whether search results should be removed in certain circumstances, the right to be forgotten is unlikely to be extended." 

Can I get rid of internet search results about me?

If you have unwanted results appearing in a search of your name, we can help you with an application for the right to be forgotten, for a low fixed fee. 

If you have already tried making an application to Google or another search engine which has been unsuccessful, we can assist you with an appeal to the Information Commissioner's Office, to get the decision overturned. 

Contact us today for a discussion about how we can assist you.