In today’s hyper-documented world, the internet rarely forgets.

Yet people do change.

A quiet but growing wave of individuals is fighting back against digital permanence, not for vanity, but rather for dignity and the right to move forward.

They are turning to the "Right to Be Forgotten" (RTBF) — a vital but often misunderstood legal remedy.

The Right to be Forgotten is a legal right that allows individuals to request the erasure of their data from search engine results pages in the UK and EU. 

Internet Erasure Ltd has acted for nearly 1,200 clients and removed over 70,000 links from search engine results by using the Right to be Forgotten.

These clients are not celebrities or career criminals seeking to hide; they are ordinary people navigating real-world consequences of their name appearing in Google search results — including difficulty finding work or clients, barriers to renting or buying a home, relationships that never get started, mental health struggles, and even threats to personal safety.

The need is widespread. According to the Office for National Statistics, and others:

• 1 in 6 UK adults has a criminal record (Ministry of Justice)
• 1 in 8 have been named as a victim of crime (Crime Survey for England and Wales)
• 1 in 9 have been declared bankrupt (Insolvency Service)
• 1 in 23 have experienced online harassment, cyberbullying, revenge porn, or attack sites (ONS)
• 1 in 29 will be reported missing in their lifetime (Missing People charity)
• 1 in 31 will run a company that enters liquidation (Institute of Directors)
• 1 in 33 have had embarrassing or reputationally damaging incidents shared online (est. from Internet Erasure client analysis)
• 1 in 4 have had private data like addresses, phone numbers or photos of children published online without their consent (Cifas/Ofcom)
• 1 in 4 have experienced 'sharenting' — unwanted childhood content published by parents or schools (Ofcom & Children’s Commissioner).

​These categories naturally overlap - they illustrate that nearly everyone will face some form of damaging digital exposure in their lifetime, and some people will experience the Google effect on multiple occasions.

Content appearing online can create an inaccurate or out-of-date impression of who they are as a person now, even if it was originally innocent and harmless; with time, it is no longer the case. 

Examples include someone who now wears a Hijab seeking to remove images of themselves before they committed to wearing a hijab, or a newly married person seeking to remove photos of themselves with their former spouse.

RTBF, governed under Article 17 of the UK GDPR, allows individuals to request the removal of personal data from search engine results when it is outdated, inaccurate, excessive, or unlawfully published.

This includes newspaper articles, mugshots, outdated blogs, legal documents, and other personal data — provided that removal does not infringe overriding public interest.

But this right is not automatic. It is discretionary and requires legal arguments to show that a person’s privacy outweighs the public interest.

As Philip Martin, Senior Caseworker at Internet Erasure Ltd, puts it: “Most people Google your name before they meet you. If page one of your search results shows spent convictions, false allegations, or embarrassing content from years ago, your future can be derailed before it even starts.”

Delisting helps restore fairness and opportunity in a digital age where search engines act as gatekeepers to employment, housing, finance, and personal dignity.

As misinformation rises and AI scrapes historical data, the importance of digital hygiene will only increase.

The Right to Be Forgotten is not censorship.

Rather, it is balance.

It ensures that people are not defined forever by their worst moment, but by who they are today.

Philip adds “Graffiti gets scrubbed off. Why should digital graffiti stay forever?”

Get in touch with Internet Erasure today to discuss your options

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