Google to fight Spanish demand on removal of 100 defamatory links

Search engine says it is only an intermediary, not responsible for content

Google has said it will challenge Spain's data protection authority Agencia Española de Protección de Datos demand to remove 100 defamatory articles in newspapers and official gazettes from its search listings.

The search engine has been quoted in a Guardian story arguing that it acts only as an intermediary and therefore it cannot be held responsible for all content on the internet.

The Guardian also quoted Google's director of external relations for Europe Peter Barron as saying, "Requiring intermediaries like search engines to censor material published by others would have a profound, chilling effect on free expression without protecting people's privacy."

The data regulator said the only way to block access to sensitive material published by some sites is by doing so in the search engine listings. In Spain, media organisations are not obliged to legally comply with informal requests on content censorship.

• Share:
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
•