Earlier today, the European Court of Justice held that under European law individuals have the right to request that Google remove certain links that appear when someone searches for their name. The Court considered that Google’s activities were ‘processing of personal data” within Europe and that an internet search engine operator is responsible for the processing that it carries out of personal data which appear on web pages published by third parties.

The decision is Google Spain SL, Google Inc. v Agencia Española de Protección de Datos, Mario Costeja González (C-131/12). The Court released both the decision and a summary.

The Court stated:

[87] Indeed, since the inclusion in the list of results, displayed following a search made on the basis of a person’s name, of a web page and of the information contained on it relating to that person makes access to that information appreciably easier for any internet user making a search in respect of the person concerned and may play a decisive role in the dissemination of that information, it is liable to constitute a more significant interference with the data subject’s fundamental right to privacy than the publication on the web page.

[88] In the light of all the foregoing considerations, the answer to Question 2(c) and (d) is that Article 12(b) and subparagraph (a) of the first paragraph of Article 14 of Directive 95/46 are to be interpreted as meaning that, in order to comply with the rights laid down in those provisions and in so far as the conditions laid down by those provisions are in fact satisfied, the operator of a search engine is obliged to remove from the list of results displayed following a search made on the basis of a person’s name links to web pages, published by third parties and containing information relating to that person, also in a case where that name or information is not erased beforehand or simultaneously from those web pages, and even, as the case may be, when its publication in itself on those pages is lawful.

Some commentary on the decision: Globe and Mail, Paul Bernal, and BBC.