Short Sellers' Negative Stock Reports Could Become Harder to Find on Google

Targets of critical reports by short sellers and other corporate critics can demand that Google remove links to the research from its internet search results. But they can only do so if they can prove that the reports are inaccurate, according to a ruling by the European Union’s top court.

After two executives claimed they were hit by an online information campaign in 2015, EU judges weighed in to determine whether the campaign was unfair. The executives claimed the campaign depicted them living a lavish lifestyle and criticized the way they ran their business, leading to negative consequences.

The EU Court of Justice ruled on Thursday that search-engine operators must dereference information on the internet when the person making the request proves that such information is manifestly inaccurate. Judges said that while it is up to the targets of online articles or pictures to demonstrate why the material is wrong, they do not need to go through the courts to prove it.

This is the latest test of the right to be forgotten, following a 2014 EU court ruling that requires search engines to remove European links to websites that contain out of date or false information that could unfairly harm a person’s reputation. In Thursday’s case, Google had initially refused to sever the search links, saying it couldn’t judge whether the content in the disputed articles was wrong, as the complainants claimed.

The court said that search engine providers cannot be required to play an active role in trying to find facts which are not substantiated by the request for dereferencing.

The ruling is unlikely to have a major impact on short sellers, but it adds to the growing global scrutiny of the activities of some firms in the industry. These firms profit when their research about a company's underperformance causes its stock price to drop.

Google has said that it has worked hard to implement the right to be forgotten in the EU, and that it has striven to strike a balance between people's right to access information and their right to privacy. The company has stated that the links and thumbnails in question are no longer available via web search or image search, and that the content in question has been offline for some time.

The right to be forgotten offers people the opportunity to escape their online past. This right allows people to request that search engines remove links to their personal information from search results. The right to be forgotten is a controversial law, with some people arguing that it violates freedom of speech. However, the right to be forgotten can be a powerful tool for people who want to move on from their past.