Previous 12 / 12 Next

JURISPRUDENCIA Dª. María Isabel Perelló Doménech D. José Maria del Riego Valledor D. Diego Córdoba Castroverde D. Ángel Ramón Arozamena Laso PUBLICACIÓN.- Leída y publicada fue la anterior sentencia por la Magistrada Ponente Excma. Sra. Dª. Mª ISABEL PERELLÓ DOMÉNECH, estando constituida la Sala en audiencia pública de lo que, como Letrado de la Administración de Justicia, certiﬁco. 12

Select target paragraph3

● ● ●

Don Dionisio v. Google

Case Law

Country

Spain

Country Location

Latitude: 40.17158238163279

Longitude: -3.6606463193890733

Country Location (linked Case Law): Spain

Decision Date: Sep 17, 2020

Case Status: Closed

Case Outcome (Procedural)

Affirmed Lower Court

Keywords

Access to Information
Data Protection and Retention
Filtering and Blocking
Privacy
Right to be Forgotten
Search Engines

Judicial Body: Supreme Court (court of final appeal)

Court Name: Third Section of the Administrative Chamber of the Supreme Tribunal of Spain

Case Number: STS 2918/2020

Case Summary: The Third Section of the Administrative Chamber of the Supreme Tribunal of Spain decided that the right to be forgotten does not grant the right to get articles that impose criminal accusations de-indexed, even when the criminal investigation was closed without a guilty verdict. Don Dionisio, CEO of an important company, was the subject of news reports regarding criminal allegations of espionage to members of the company’s Administration Board. The criminal investigations were eventually closed. Don Dionisio urged Google to take measures to prevent his name from appearing in search results in relationship to this negative coverage, which Google refused. The Supreme Tribunal decided that the right to information of users prevailed over Don Dionisio’s right to be forgotten, since the contested information was of public interest and relevant. The Court also considered that maintaining the information indexed in the search engine didn’t breach the presumption of innocence of the appellant.

Case Significance: Through this decision the Supreme Tribunal of Spain expands freedom of expression by denying the right to be forgotten regarding the publication of news related to closed criminal investigations without a guilty verdict, thus giving special prevalence to freedom of information. The judgement recognized that facts about private actors in charge of large economic interests are of public interest and that the internet users’ right to freedom of information is key for democratic life.

The decision establishes a binding or persuasive precedent within its jurisdiction.

Related Caselaw (self)

Source URL: Global Freedom of Expression

Collection

Columbia

Date Updated: Jul 3, 2024

Primary Documents

Judgment (in Spanish)
Spanish
Download View

CYRILLA: Global Digital Rights Law

Select target paragraph3

Don Dionisio v. Google

Primary Documents

Notifications