Google gets two weeks to also implement forget requests outside the EU

The French privacy watchdog CNIL has given Google a 15-day deadline to implement honored ‘forget’ requests worldwide. The CNIL finds it insufficient that Google now only removes results from its search engines with a European extension.

The chairman of the CNIL has sent a summons to Google to ensure that the right to be forgotten is implemented worldwide within 15 days. The summons itself does not yet contain a sanction and if Google complies, the privacy watchdog says it will not take any further steps.

If Google does not take action within the deadline, the chairman of the CNIL will consider advising the imposition of sanctions. A competent committee within the CNIL must decide whether sanctions are justified for violations of the French privacy law.

The CNIL says it has previously made clear to Google that the removal of search results should apply to the entire search engine, not just the search sites with European extensions. The European Court ruled in May last year that individuals have the right to be forgotten and that it is therefore mandatory for search engines to remove search results if privacy is at stake. Shortly afterwards, Google put a form online with which to submit a removal request. Supervisors from other European countries have already informed Google that the Court’s decision applies to a worldwide right to forget.