Balancing Memory and Forgetting in the Age of AI

The Right to Be Forgotten in the Age of AI: Between Memory’s Burden and Its Promise

In 1998, in a small town in Spain, a brief notice appeared in a local newspaper. It stated: “Mario Costeja González’s property has been seized due to outstanding debts.”
At the time, it was an ordinary legal announcement. The debts were later paid, and the case was closed.

In 2009, when Mario searched his own name on Google, he came across that notice.
The matter had been resolved years ago. However, it was still living on the first page of search results. It was an outdated, decontextualized, yet impactful digital shadow.

Mario felt it was unfair for this information to remain in plain view for everyone.
His request was simple: “Google should remove this link from its search results.”
Google refused, saying, “We only provide access to information.”

The case went to the Court of Justice of the European Union.
In 2014, the court ruled that individuals have the right to ask for the removal of search results. This applies to information that is “no longer relevant” or “causes disproportionate harm.” Thus, the “right to be forgotten” was legally recognized across Europe.

In essence, this means: Information will be removed only if its impact on the individual’s privacy is significant. It must outweigh the public’s right to know.

Since then, Google has received over 6 million link removal requests in Europe—40% of which have been approved.

Now, both remembering and forgetting exist on an ethical plane.

Collective memory is one of justice’s strongest foundations.
There is documentation of mass graves in Bosnia and Holocaust archives. There are records of the Rwandan genocide. Satellite images capture climate disasters. These are silent witnesses to truths that some would rather erase.

As Paul Ricoeur put it: “To remember is a moral duty of justice.”

On an individual level, nevertheless, the right to be forgotten is also part of democratic freedoms. The European Union’s “right to be forgotten” principle protects individuals. As in Mario’s case, it allows them to erase digital traces from one’s past.

Today, the situation takes on another dimension with algorithmic memory.
The memory of artificial intelligence is decontextualized, non-linear, and infinite.
Thus, even an innocent photo shared years ago can resurface as part of a security screening.

In the words of Aleida Assmann: “Memory is both a burden and a resource.”

In the age of AI, the real challenge is to find an ethical balance. It also involves legal and technological balance between that burden and that resource.

This is not just a matter of individual rights—it’s about the future of democracy itself.