Google has shot down the request of France’s CNIL to implement ’right to be forgotten’ worldwide.
Right to be forgotten was implemented in Europe as a result of a landmark ruling that declared people should have a right to delist pieces of information about themselves in Google under specific circumstances.
Since it’s a European ruling, it has no bearing on search results elsewhere in the world. For example, if someone in France submits a successful right to be forgotten request then the information will be delisted in Google.fr, but not Google.com.
France’s CNIL submitted a formal request in June that right to be forgotten should be implemented throughout worldwide search results.
Google has explicitly stated it will not comply with the request, saying its not necessary since searchers are always redirected to their local versions of Google.
In addition, Google argues that complying with France’s request risks “serious chilling effects on the web.”
While a little over dramatic, what the company means is that enforcing what is the law in Europe but not the law globally would set a bad precedent.
“We believe that no one country should have the authority to control what content someone in a second country can access.”
Google reiterates that it is committed to continuing to work with regulators on enforcing right to be forgotten in the way it has been enforced up to this point.
With Google having shot down France’s formal request, there is little the CNIL can do at this point besides issue a fine.
It’s clear where the company stands on right to be forgotten, Google has no intention to enforce the European ruling in other regions.
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