A doctor filed a habeas data action against an internet search engine aimed at removing suggested results that, upon entering his name, associated him with the expression “medical malpractice.” These suggestions—generated by the search engine’s “related searches” tool— induced users to associate him with lawsuits or complaints of medical malpractice, despite the fact that no result contained information that implicated him in facts of that nature.
The District Court rejected the complaint. The judge held that the information that the plaintiff requires to be deleted is the expression “malpractice”, which appears when the plaintiff’s full name is entered into the defendant’s search engine—specifically, through features such as “related searches” and “autocomplete.” In this regard, the judge found that the data in question are not stored for the purpose of processing, but rather are the product of a dynamic interaction between the defendant’s algorithm and user behavior. As such, because the data are generated interactively and on a temporary basis, they cannot be subjected to the standards of accuracy established by Argentine Personal Data Protection Law No. 25,326. Finally, the judge reasoned that, even if the deletion were ordered, it would not be possible to guarantee that the data would not reappear in the future, thereby potentially undermining full compliance with the judgment.
The Division I of the Court of Appeals in Civil and Commercial matters overturned the decision and ordered the defendant to cease suggesting or associating the expression “medical malpractice” in related searches when a query includes the plaintiff’s full name or the abbreviation “Dr.” followed by his surname.
The Court found that there was no content linking the plaintiff to malpractice cases, and despite the algorithmic nature of the tool, the concrete impact on his personal rights—particularly his honor and professional reputation—justified the removal. Finally, the Court emphasized that the measure does not violate freedom of speech or prevent access to information available on the web but seeks to prevent the publication of harmful links without objective support.
