Freedom of Expression and ‘Right to Be Forgotten’ Cases in the Netherlands after Google Spain
European Data Protection Law Review 2015-2, p. 113-125
24 Pages Posted: 28 Aug 2015
Date Written: August 27, 2015
Abstract
Since the Google Spain judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union, Europeans have, under certain conditions, the right to have search results for their name delisted. This paper examines how the Google Spain judgment has been applied in the Netherlands. Since the Google Spain judgment, Dutch courts have decided on two cases regarding delisting requests. In both cases, the Dutch courts considered freedom of expression aspects of delisting more thoroughly than the Court of Justice. However, the effect of the Google Spain judgment on freedom of expression is difficult to assess, as search engine operators decide about most delisting requests without disclosing much about their decisions.
Keywords: right to be forgotten, right to be delisted, search engines, google spain, data protection law, privacy, freedom of expression, european court of justice, the netherlands
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