Google is no stranger to court ruling, especially ones in European countries who’s definition of privacy and other opinions are different from those shared by the US-based company. As a result Google has found that many of their business practices in Europe have to be run differently than ones across the rest of the world. This stretches not only from Google’s traditional revenue maker in the way of mobile ads where mobile carriers in Europe could straight up block Google’s biggest source of revenue, all the way to the European Commission trying to decouple Google Services from Android in a way that they did with Microsoft services and Windows.
All these attacks on Google’s business have been done in the vein of privacy and choice, citing that Google pushes its own interests far above the interests of its customers and others. This includes listing public results of individuals who have committed crimes, had injunctions placed on their names or properties, and other deeds that some people may not want to be public information. Unfortunately for these individuals if a newspaper or other publication makes what’s already public record known, the information is out there for anyone to find and there’s nothing that can be done about given free speech laws. The French government has been pushing for Google to not make this so easy to find though and passed a ruling not too long ago titled ‘Right to Be Forgotten.’
This ruling does exactly what it sounds like and offers citizens of France to petition Google to remove outdated or inaccurate information. This creates a huge burden on Google who must respond to each complaint individually, but the burden gets worse. Now the French government is saying Google needs to expand the delinking of personal information when requested to all its global sites, meaning French citizens who want their information removed from Google will now have it removed worldwide. Google has 15 days to comply with the new adjusted ruling and will have to carry this out for future requests that are approved, as not all requests are legitimate ones.