European Court of Justice Limits Territorial Reach of “Right to Be Forgotten”

On September 24, 2019, the European Court of Justice issued a much anticipated preliminary ruling in a case involving Google and privacy rights under the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). At issue was a data subject’s qualified right of erasure with respect to personal data, known as the “right to be forgotten.” The court concluded that EU rules require a search engine operator to carry out such a request only on versions of its search engine corresponding to EU member states, rather than on all versions worldwide.