Operating under the EU's ‘right to be forgotten' legislation, the UK's Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) ordered Google to remove nine links to webpages detailing a minor crime and the search engine's prior removal of links related to the offense.
The company has 35 days to comply.
ICO explains in a blog post: “The search engine had previously removed links relating to the criminal offence following a request from the individual. The removal of these links then itself became a news story. Links to these later news stories, which repeated details of the original crime offence, were then part of the results displayed when searching for the complainant's name on Google.”
While Google has typically complied with requests, in this instance, it has refused. The company argues it's relevant news and is a “matter of significant public importance.”
