Privacy commissioner asks Federal Court to order Google to de-list news results
The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada has applied to the Federal Court for an order requiring Google to implement its recommendations from a 2025 investigation that found the company violated PIPEDA by showing certain news articles in search results for a person's name, the office announced on Aug. 28.
The application is a test of the commissioner's main enforcement tool under current law. Because he cannot issue binding orders, he must go to the Federal Court within a year of a report of findings if a company will not comply.
Background
The case began with a 2017 complaint. Searches for the complainant's name returned news articles about criminal charges that the Crown stayed shortly after they were laid. The complainant said the articles were outdated and misleading and had led to a physical assault, lost job opportunities and social stigma, according to a summary by law firm Deeth Williams Wall.
In its August 2025 findings, the office concluded that Canadians have a right, in limited circumstances, to have information de-listed from search results for their name. It found that the harm to the complainant's safety and dignity outweighed the limited public interest in finding the articles through a name search, and recommended de-listing. Google declined.
What the court is being asked to do
The notice of application, filed Aug. 25, asks the court to order Google to de-list the results and to adopt clear, specific measures for handling de-listing requests under PIPEDA, the law firm reported. The commissioner's office noted that de-listing removes results from a name search but does not delete the content, which stays on the original websites and can still be found with other search terms.
Why it matters
A ruling for the commissioner would effectively establish a limited right to be forgotten in Canadian search results, an issue that has been in dispute for years. It would also show how the office uses the courts to enforce findings while it waits for new legislation. The government's Bill C-36 would replace this process with a regulator that can issue orders directly.
Google has not publicly detailed its arguments in the new proceeding, and no hearing date has been announced. The office said it would publish further updates as the case moves forward, and a timeline of the investigation is on its website.
