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Google won its showdown against the CNIL on the right to be forgotten. The European Court of Justice has declared that a right to be forgotten is only valid for the member countries of the European Union. REUTERS / Dado Ruvic / Illustration / Photo File

The " right to forget " of European Internet users is limited to the European Union and has no global reach for search engines like Google, decided on Tuesday the European justice in a case emblematic of the conflict between protection of privacy and freedom of expression.

This judgment of the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) gives reason to Google in its litigation, in France, in front of the National Commission of computing and freedoms (Cnil), which had imposed in 2016 a fine of 100,000 euros for limiting this " right to be forgotten " to only European versions of the search engine.

Delete links on request of the person

Devoted in 2014 by European justice, the right to be forgotten allows each European to obtain, under conditions, the removal of links that appear in the results of a search engine after a query on his name. In its dispute with Google, the CNIL believed that deletions should apply to all versions of the search engine in the world to be effective.

The US group, backed by several rights organizations, said that respect for the " right to be forgotten " beyond EU borders would have created risks for freedom of expression, particularly in some countries. authoritarian countries. Google had therefore challenged his conviction before the French Council of State and sought the opinion of the CJEU.

►To read too: Google's right to be forgotten by Google

' There is no obligation for the operator of a search engine which grants a request for dereferencing [...] to derogate from all the provisions of the law of the Union. versions of its engine ", even if nothing prohibits it" either , "believes the CJEU, established in Luxembourg, in its judgment Tuesday. " However, EU law obliges the search engine operator to make such a dereferencing of the versions of its engine corresponding to all the Member States ", it is stressed.

Second judgment on personal data

The CJEU also pronounced Tuesday on a second case of personal data, thus clarifying its jurisprudence with regard to the search engines. The Court was seized by the French court about requests for deletion of links refused to individuals.

The CNIL had indeed refused to force Google to remove several links referring to convictions for pedophile acts, the indictment of a politician or a satirical photomontage of a woman politician.

In its second judgment, the Court considers that " in the context of a dereferencing application, a balance must be struck between the fundamental rights of the person " concerned and " those of Internet users potentially interested in this information ". The court specifies that " human rights generally prevail over freedom of information ".

►Also read: France: Google will pay nearly a billion euros to close the lawsuits

But this balance may vary depending on " the nature of the information in question ", " its sensitivity to the privacy of the person " or " the public interest ".

(With AFP)