Previously, Google had been ordered to remove search results globally by a court in the province of British Columbia. Google is now arguing in front of Canada’s supreme court that the decision should be repealed, Motherboard reported.
Privacy experts have expressed concern that if the supreme court upholds the previous ruling, global delinking could be used to silence free speech online.
Google contests that the Canadian courts should not have the authority to force Google to act in a way that may not be consistent with the laws of other countries where the company operates, CBC News reported.
The consequences of blocking search results worldwide could be far-reaching, Bruce D. Brown and Ariel B. Glickman argue in an opinion piece published by Toronto star: “If one country can control what you see on the Internet, what is to prevent others from doing the same?”
WAN-IFRA has released an extensive report on the “right to be forgotten”, as well as having called national courts to uphold freedom of expression in all “right to be forgotten” claims.