SPECIAL COLLECTION OF THE CASE LAW ON FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
remove the link after Google refused her request to de-index the URL, arguing the information
impacted on her right to personality, information self-determination, and privacy. The Federal
Constitutional Court did not object to the Higher Regional Court’s balancing of Mrs. B.’s right
to the free development of her personality pursuant to Art. 7 and Art. 8 of the European Charter
and Google’s freedom to conduct a business under Art. 16 of the Charter. The Court further
considered the substantial amount of time that had passed, but ultimately found that the fundamental rights of third parties directly affected by the legal dispute had to be taken into account,
namely the freedom of expression of the broadcaster and the public’s interest in this information
pursuant to Art. 11 of the Charter.
A handful of cases emerged around allegations made in the context of the worldwide #MeToo movement. For instance, a Chilean Court refused to acknowledge a “right to be forgotten”
claim in that setting. In Abreu v. Google, an Appeals Court refused a de-indexation of news
articles in different search engines on the allegations of sexual abuse and abuse of power made
by five actresses against a television director and producer. While the applicant had been acquitted of all charges, he argued that the constant inforA handful of cases emerged
mation on his case provided by the search engines
violated his privacy and his “right to be forgotten”.
around allegations made in
Noting that the applicant did not challenge the veracthe context of the worldwide
ity of the news articles and the availability of updat#MeToo movement.
ed information, the Court dismissed the petition and
ruled that the so-called “right to be forgotten” was
not established in Chilean legislation and that the search engines were not responsible for content created by independent users. However, a Court in India ordered the removal of defamatory
articles in such a context. In Khan v. Quintillion Business Media, Delhi High Court in India ordered the removal of two allegedly defamatory articles from media house, Quintillion Business
Media’s web port Quint.com against Zulfiquar Khan that contained #MeToo allegations. In response, Khan filed a defamation suit against Quintillion Business Media and sought a permanent
injunction to take down the original articles and to remove references to the articles from search
engines. In ordering the removal of the impugned articles the Court recognized Kahn’s right to
reputation and privacy as well as his “right to be forgotten” and the right to be left alone. It held
that since Quint.com had been ordered to remove the claims, it would not be permissible for
other news platforms/websites to republish those claims otherwise it would lead to an endless
cycle of suspicion and animosity towards Khan. The case is troublesome precedent from the
standpoint of freedom of expression, for it granted the “right to be forgotten” claim even before
the veracity of the allegations could be tested.
Cases of crimes that happened many years ago seem to reveal a certain pattern in “right to be
forgotten” claims. For instance, in the S.G. v. Unione Sarda S.P.A., the Supreme Court of Italy
had to review a petition made by a man who had killed his wife and served his time in prison
against against a newspaper which published an article on his story, 27 years after the criminal
event. He claimed that the publication violated his “right to be forgotten”. The Supreme Court
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