The right to be forgotten, filed properly
A genuine legal right with a genuine balancing test, available to people in the EU and UK. Most refusals happen because the request argued the wrong thing.
Who can make a right to be forgotten request?
The right to erasure under GDPR Article 17 and the UK GDPR lets individuals in the EU and UK ask a search engine to de-list URLs that return for searches of their name where the information is inaccurate, inadequate, irrelevant or excessive. It is not available in the United States. It de-lists the result for name searches only — the page itself stays online and remains findable by other queries.
This is where most providers mislead Americans. If you are in the United States and the content is about you there, this right does not apply to you, and no filing changes that. The honest US routes are Google’s own personal-information policy, a court order, or source removal — and we will route you to the one that fits.
What the balancing test weighs in your favour
- The information is old and the matter is resolved
- You are a private individual rather than a public figure
- The content is inaccurate, or no longer accurate
- It concerns a spent conviction under the applicable rehabilitation law
- It is excessive relative to any continuing public interest
- It relates to you as a minor, or concerns sensitive data categories
- The original data was published without a lawful basis
How a right to be forgotten case runs
The request is a legal argument, not a form. A refused request can be re-argued, but the first one sets the tone.
- 1
Eligibility
Where you are, whether you are a public figure for this purpose, and whether the content falls inside the balancing test.
- 2
Build the argument
Each URL argued separately against the specific criteria, with evidence of age, resolution or inaccuracy attached.
- 3
File
Through the search engine’s own erasure process, per URL, per engine. Google and Bing are separate filings.
- 4
Appeal
A refusal goes to the data protection authority — the ICO in the UK, the relevant supervisory authority in the EU. Regulator escalation is where a fair number of borderline cases turn.
- 5
Proof and monitoring
Dated screenshots from a clean session for the name query, then re-checks across the window.
The specifics
- Legal basis
- GDPR Article 17 and the UK GDPR right to erasure
- Available to
- Individuals in the EU and UK. Not available in the US
- Scope
- De-lists a URL for searches of your name; the page itself stays online
- Per engine
- Google, Bing and others are separate filings
- Typical timeline
- 4 to 12 weeks; regulator appeals add months
- Counts as delivered
- The URL no longer returns for your name on the named engine, evidenced by a dated screenshot
What we will not claim
- This right does not exist for people in the United States, and we will not sell it to an American as though it does.
- De-listing is name-scoped. The page stays live, stays reachable by direct link, and can still be found by searching other terms.
- Public figures lose the balancing test far more often, because the public interest side of it is genuinely heavier.
- Removal at the source beats de-indexing every time: it clears every search engine at once and it cannot be undone by a recrawl. We try the source first even when de-indexing is the cheaper job for us.
Questions
Terms on this page
Last reviewed . Platform policies change; we re-check every page quarterly.