Judgments: ECJ: Google must delete links to false information

judgements
ECJ: Google must delete links to false information

The home page of the Google search engine. photo

© Karl-Josef Hildenbrand/dpa

A couple from the financial industry sees themselves discredited by fake news that has apparently been deliberately launched on the Internet. Can it ask Google to delete it from the results lists? The ECJ says yes.

Search engines like Google have to remove entries from the result lists if they are proven to be incorrect. Those affected do not first have to contact the person who put the information online, but can hold Google accountable. The European Court of Justice (ECJ) decided on Thursday in Luxembourg. (Case C-460/20)

The background to this is a case before the Federal Court of Justice in Karlsruhe, in which a couple from the financial services industry sees themselves discredited by a US website. The company behind this site is in turn accused of launching targeted negative reports in order to later blackmail those affected. Google had refused to remove the links to the articles. One cannot judge whether there is any truth to the allegations.

The ECJ did not follow this. If a person can prove that a search query leads to a page with obviously incorrect information, the search engine must delete the corresponding link. It does not need a judicial decision, it said. Those concerned need only provide such evidence as “may reasonably be required”.

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