What does Google’s right to be forgotten mean for you?

Although there has been a lot of talk about Google’s right to be forgotten initiative, many people are questioning what it actually is. We try and shed some light into what the initiative involves.

A European court ruled in May that links to articles containing ‘irrelevant’ and out of date information should be erased if it is requested to be by those affected by the information. This ruling led to Google to respond by saying it will assess each request individually whilst balancing ‘privacy rights of the individual with the public’s right to know and distribute information.’

Google’s decision to erase personal information upon request has led to numerous concerns regarding the removal of data that is deemed of public interest such as peoples personal convictions and fraudulent activity. In June 2014, the BBC learned that of the 72,000 requests sent to google, more than half of the ones from the UK involved individuals seeking to ‘erase’ previous convictions and misdemeanors.

But what does this mean for your business or you as an individual?
Well, Google is removing links and content from its index rather than completely deleting pages from the web, so at present, if you search for a brand or an individuals name it will still show related articles. However this initiative could perhaps lead to scandals and events that have previously haunted brands and people to be hidden from the web community in the future.