Information Not Found: The “Right to be Forgotten” as an Emerging Threat to Media Freedom in the Digital Age

This digest has been produced in cooperation with the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ)

The report explores “Right to be Forgotten” and how it is already impacting content accessibility, as well as its most likely effects in the future. The EU Legislation has numerous implications, such as data protection laws, territoriality, and intermediary liability. The “Right to be Forgotten” refers to the removal of content from either search engine indexes or even the entire Internet to prevent access for end users. While the concept emerged from the European legal tradition favouring privacy of non-public individuals, in practice it has led to censorship of information relevant to public interest, endangering press freedom by leading to the removal of news articles.