right to be forgotten

Syllable breakdown

Dictionary meaning

the legal right, established under the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and earlier in a 2014 European Court of Justice ruling against Google Spain, that allows individuals to request the deletion or de-indexing of personal information from search engines and digital platforms when that information is no longer relevant, accurate, or necessary; the right balances individual interests in personal privacy, rehabilitation, and the ability to move on from past events against the public interest in freedom of information, journalistic archives, and the accountability of public figures; its geographic and thematic scope remains contested — what constitutes adequate grounds for erasure, whether it applies globally or only within European jurisdictions, and how to balance it against the right to know