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Furthermore, in the context of a request for removal of thumbnails from the results of an image search, only the informative value of the images in their own right should be taken into consideration

TU and RE brought an action against Google LLC seeking to obtain, on the one hand, the dereferencing of certain links displayed in searches made using the search engine operated by Google LLC, which lead to online third-party articles identifying TU and RE and, on the other, cessation of the display of the photographs accompanying one of those articles in the form of preview images (thumbnails). TU works in a position of responsibility, or is involved, in various companies which provide financial services. RE was TU’s cohabiting partner and, until May 2015, held general commercial power of representation in one of those companies. Three articles appeared on the website g-net which criticised and expressed doubts as to the reliability of the investment model of several of those companies, one of which featured four photographs showing TU and RE driving luxury cars, in a helicopter and in front of a charter plane, thereby suggesting that the applicants were enjoying a life of externally financed luxury. TU and RE requested Google LLC to de-reference the articles in question, which, in their view, contain a number of incorrect allegations and defamatory opinions based on false statements, and to remove the thumbnails from the list of search results.

The German Federal Court of Justice referred two questions to the Court of Justice for a preliminary ruling. The first concerns the specific feature of the function performed by search engines, and the tension that this creates between the fundamental rights laid down in Articles 7, 8 and 11 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, 1 in a scenario which has not yet been examined by the Court, that is to say a situation in which the data subject challenges the truth of the processed data and requests, for that reason, the de-referencing of links to the content published by third parties in which those data appear. The second question concerns the need, in examining a request for removal of thumbnails from the results of an image search to take into account the content of the web page containing the images in question.

In today’s Opinion, Advocate General Pitruzzella, as a preliminary step, analyses the Court’s case-law 2 on the obligations incumbent on the operator of a search engine and identifies four established points in respect of the matter.