The Court of the European Union obliged Google to remove "inauthentic data" from the search engine. To do this, users must prove that they are inaccurate.
Reuters writes about it.
"Free speech and privacy advocates have argued in recent years over "peopleʼs right to be forgotten" on the internet, meaning they should be able to have their digital footprints removed from the internet. The operator of the search engine must cancel the link to the information found in the content to which it is linked, if the person requesting the cancellation of the links proves that such information is clearly inaccurate," the Court declared in a statement.
The case before the European Court of Justice concerned two executives of a group of investment companies who asked Google to remove search results linking their names to certain articles critical of the groupʼs investment model. They also wanted Google to remove their photos from search results.
But Google refused to do this, because they stated that they did not know whether the information in the articles was accurate or inaccurate. Then the company was sued in a German court, which has already asked the EU Court for clarification.
- In the summer of 2021, a French court fined the company €220 million for promoting its own services in the field of online advertising and undermining fair competition.
- In Great Britain, a collective lawsuit against Google was filed in a London court. 130,000 advertising companies and publishers are demanding that Google pay £13.6 billion ($16.3 billion) in damages.