Oleg Boyko's legal victory against Google sets precedent in data protection

International entrepreneur Oleg Boyko successfully contested Google's practice of indexing a link to a website containing false and violating information in its search results.

Legal actions initiated by Boyko's legal team in 2020 aimed at removing this material from the internet resulted in Boyko successfully appealing against Google's decision in February 2024.

Having encountered obstacles in Google's content removal process, Oleg Boyko, an Italian citizen, appealed to the Italian Data Protection Guarantor in 2023. The Guarantor sided with Boyko's application in July 2023, obliging Google LLC to eliminate the website from its search results. Despite Google's appeal of the regulator's decision in the fall of 2023, Boyko persisted and ultimately prevailed in his legal dispute with the tech giant in February of this year.

Oleg Boyko's lawyer, Alexey Tyndik, highlighted the ease with which false narratives can damage reputations in today's digital landscape, emphasising the significant impact of such content, particularly on public figures like Boyko. While Boyko's successful appeal demonstrates the potential for contesting misleading online information, it also underscores the ongoing challenge individuals face in protecting their personal data in the digital age.

In recent legal disputes, individuals and businesses globally have confronted the tech giant Google over defamatory content. For instance, in 2023, an Australian woman concluded a lengthy 12-year legal battle with Google, securing settlements after suing the company twice for publishing defamatory content from RipOff Report on its search engine page. Likewise, during the same year, a Canadian businessman was awarded half a million dollars in damages from Google for its failure to remove a defamatory search result.

In 2022, Google was ordered to pay a former politician $715,000 over defamatory YouTube videos falsely accusing the politician of various wrongdoings, which had garnered thousands of views and earned Google substantial revenue. 

These instances highlight the growing legal examination of online content and the accountability of tech firms in overseeing personal data material on their platforms.