EU court rules Google must remove search results proven false

The Court of Justice of the European Union ruled on December 8 that Google must remove information from search results if a person can prove that it is false.

The case came about after Google denied the request of two executives from a group of investment companies who wanted the search engine giant to remove results connecting them to articles criticizing the group, as well as photos of them, Fox News reports.

"The operator of a search engine must de-reference information found in the referenced content where the person requesting de-referencing proves that such information is manifestly inaccurate," the CJEU said.

The court said that people wishing to have information taken down need only give evidence that they could be reasonably required to find.

The ruling comes eight years after the same court issued a landmark ruling on the "right to be forgotten," which said people can ask companies like Google to remove their personal information if it is deemed inaccurate or irrelevant.

"Since 2014, we've worked hard to implement the right to be forgotten in Europe, and to strike a sensible balance between people’s rights of access to information and privacy," a Google spokesperson said in a statement reported by Reuters.

Regarding the case of the two executives, Google said the information and photos have been offline for some time already.