Google Rejects France’s Request To Delist Links Globally

As you might have heard, Google in Europe agreed that they would entertain requests for the right to be forgotten, basically giving internet users a chance to have information about themselves delisted on Google’s search pages. However as expected, this would only apply within the European region.

This meant that if you’re in the US or Asia or other regions, you will still be able to find said information. This did not sit well with France’s privacy watchdog CNIL would requested that Google delist those links on a global scale. However if you were hoping for CNIL’s request to be agreed upon, you would be out of luck as Google has basically rejected the idea.

According to Google, “We believe that no one country should have the authority to control what content someone in a second country can access. We also believe this order is disproportionate and unnecessary, given that the overwhelming majority of French internet users—currently around 97%—access a European version of Google’s search engine like google.fr, rather than Google.com or any other version of Google.”

Google also cites reasons on how certain topics are considered legal in some parts of the world, but might not be in another country, so applying one country’s standards or principles to another would not seem fair. To that end, it is possible that Google could face a fine for ignoring their request, with a spokeswoman for the CNIL saying, “We have taken note of Google’s arguments which are mostly of a political nature. The CNIL, on the other hand, has relied on a strictly legal reasoning.”

Tyler Lee
Categories: Web
Tags: Google, Legal, Privacy