A European Court of Justice decision ordering Google to delete some personal data on request has raised concerns about online censorship.
The EU's top court ruled on Tuesday that individuals have the right to ask the US internet giant to delete personal data and "to be forgotten" online under certain circumstances when their personal data becomes outdated or inaccurate.
Analysts who follow the online space said the global impact of the ruling was not immediately clear, but that it could raise some tricky issues in Europe and beyond.
"The practical implementation seems to be vague and potentially very messy," said Greg Sterling, analyst at Opus Research, who follows the search business.
Sterling said Google should be able to comply and filter the results, but that means internet search results could be different depending on where the user is located, in a manner similar to what takes place in China under government censorship rules.
"This opens the door to people who don't like search results to remove or change their information," Sterling told AFP.
The analyst added that it could be "problematic" trying to determine which results to remove and that "this begs the question about what is in the public interest".
Danny Sullivan of the website Search Engine Land said the impact may be positive if it only applies to protection of privacy.
"However, there's a real concern if this turns out to be abused, if done to prevent easy access to legitimate public records," Sullivan added.
Google said the ruling was a disappointment and would now take time to analyse the implications.
The case highlights growing concerns about so-called online reputation management, which has spawned an industry that helps eliminate or minimise damaging information online.
In the United States, a law passed in California allowing individuals to erase online content from postings as a minor, but only items the users uploaded themselves.
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