The right to de-referencing ‘manifestly inaccurate’ information: TU, RE v Google

On 8 December 2022, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) issued a judgment in case TU, RE v Google (C-460/20) as a step forward in shaping the right to de-referencing. After an overview of the previous CJEU’s case-law on the right to de-referencing, the present note gives insights into the findings of the CJEU regarding both the de-referencing of allegedly inaccurate content by the search engine operators, and the de-referencing of photographs displayed in the form of thumbnails. Regarding the dereferencing of online content, the CJEU held that such dereferencing must be granted when the data subject proves a manifest inaccuracy without the need for a judicial decision. As for the dereferencing of thumbnails, their informative value should be taken into account regardless of the original context of their publication.