Right to be forgotten: asking Google or Bing to delist a link
In the European Union you can ask a search engine to stop showing, when people search your name, a link to a page about you. This is called “delisting”: the page stays on the original site, but becomes much harder to find.
Who it is for
Anyone (or their legal representative) who, when searching their name in a search engine from the EU, sees pages containing personal information that is inaccurate, outdated, excessive or sensitive.
Time frame
The GDPR requires a reply within one month, extendable by 2 months if the request is complex. The search engine may ask you for more information before deciding.
Cost
Free.
Legal basis
GDPR Article 17 (right to erasure), as interpreted by the Court of Justice of the EU: Google Spain judgment of 13 May 2014 (C-131/12: right to request delisting even if the information stays on the original site), judgments of 24 September 2019 in GC and Others (C-136/17: sensitive data) and Google v CNIL (C-507/17: scope limited to European versions), judgment of 8 December 2022 (C-460/20: no prior court ruling needed to challenge inaccurate information). French Council of State, 27 March 2020, No. 399922: no obligation of worldwide delisting under current law.
The steps
- Search your name (and its variants, with and without accents) in each search engine and list the exact URLs of the unwanted results.
- Fill in each search engine’s form: Google (its European “right to be forgotten” form) and Bing (its form to block results in Europe). A request accepted by one engine does not apply to the others.
- For each URL, explain how the content relates to you and why it should no longer appear (inaccurate, old, sensitive, of no public interest…).
- You do not have to get the content removed from the original site first. But asking for that too is useful: delisting does not delete anything.
- If refused, or if you get no answer within a month, go to your country’s data protection authority (CNIL in France, AEPD in Spain).
What to prepare
- The list of exact URLs, for each search engine
- The name or names searched, with their variants
- A short explanation for each link
- An ID document if the engine asks for it (Bing asks for your name as shown on an official document)
- If you act for someone else: proof that you are authorised to do so
Official links
- Google – European “right to be forgotten” form
- Google – how requests are assessed
- Bing – request to block search results in Europe
- Google – remove personal sexual content, real or fake, from results
- European Data Protection Board – list of national authorities
The limits you should know
- Delisting deletes nothing: the page stays online and can be reached directly or through other searches.
- It applies to the European versions of the engine, with location-based blocking: from outside the EU, the link may still be visible.
- Each search engine decides separately: you have to repeat the request for each one.
- It may be refused if the information is of public interest (public role, recent news, official publication…).
- If the content is republished at another address, a new request is needed.
- For intimate images, real or fake, Google also has a specific procedure to remove them from its results.
If it doesn’t work
An official form can go unanswered or be wrongly refused. That’s not the end: there are other doors, heavier but effective — the company hosting the site, the company managing its domain name, the laws of your country, the data protection authority. That’s exactly what we do for you, with your agreement.
- Reporting to the platform
- A written request to the site owner
- The domain name registrar
- The hosting company
- Search engines
- The authority or the courts
This information helps you use your rights. It doesn’t replace advice from a lawyer.