Regarding the right “to be forgotten”, mention should be made of the decision of the Court of Justice of the European Union in the case Google Spain (C-131-12) delivered in May 2014, aimed at clarifying several very important issues related to the right of personal data subjects to be forgotten, objectified first in the repealed Directive 95/46/EC. The court’s decision caused a wide response and mixed reactions both in the EU and outside it, in view of its importance for the regulation of the digital space. In it, the court concluded that the activities carried out by search engines (Google in the specific decision) constitute processing of personal data, which can significantly affect the fundamental rights to privacy and the protection of personal data, as it facilitates users to build a detailed profile of the relevant face.

The most important interpretation of the Court in the case is expressed in the following: Google is a controller of personal data and its activity falls within the scope of the Directive; the right to erasure can be exercised when the data is inadequate, irrelevant or excessive in relation to the purposes of the processing; under certain conditions, when, for example, the person performs an important role in public life, the public interest requires that the data not be subject to deletion.