EU Court Extends 'Right to be Forgotten' to False Claims About People

It may help to struggle with misinformation without lawsuits.

The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has obliged Google and other search systems to remove provably false claims about people. Users do not have to go to court - it will be enough to provide evidence of the falsity of the published information.

The decision was made in the lawsuit filed by two investment managers in Germany. The managers approached Google to remove information with critics of their business model, but the company refused to comply with the request. The corporation answered that it could not verify the accuracy of the published information. After that, they went to court.

The European Court obliges Google to remove obviously incorrect information. The judges clarified that the appeal need to “provide only evidence that can reasonably be required” to avoid an excessive burden on users.

The operator of a search engine must de-reference information found in the referenced content where the person requesting de-referencing proves that such information is manifestly inaccurate.

The decision could extend users’ control over the information disseminated about them. Now users can require to pull content that's demonstrably false. It may help to struggle with slander and misinformation without lawsuits.