The right to be forgotten in Israel: removing information from the internet and from search results

Service page: A false Google review of your business: reporting, a letter and a claim.

A person who searches for their name and finds an old article, a hurtful post or personal details published without their consent usually wants the information to disappear. This guide explains what Israeli law allows you to demand, from whom, and under which section, and what is left to the website or the search engine to decide. When the publication is a review of a business, see A false Google review of your business: reporting, a letter and a claim.

Is there a “right to be forgotten” in Israel?

Not as a general right. Israeli law has no express provision that gives a person the right to demand that a search engine remove results about their name, and there is no general provision under which information that was lawfully published is deleted after a certain time. What the law does give is several separate routes, and each of them applies in a different situation:

• Against the person who published: when the publication is an invasion of privacy (Protection of Privacy Law, 5741-1981) or when it is defamation (Prohibition of Defamation Law, 5725-1965), you can sue, and the court may order, among other things, a ban on distribution (section 29 of the Protection of Privacy Law, section 9 of the Prohibition of Defamation Law).
• Against whoever holds personal information in a database: a person who finds that the information about them is not correct, complete, clear or up to date may ask for it to be corrected or deleted (section 14 of the Protection of Privacy Law).
• Against a newspaper or a broadcaster that reported on a criminal proceeding: if the case was closed or the person was acquitted, you can demand in writing that an update be published (section 25A of the Prohibition of Defamation Law).
• Against a search engine or a platform: a request under the procedures that they themselves publish. This is company policy, not a right set in law.

When is an online publication an invasion of privacy?

“No person shall infringe the privacy of another without their consent” (section 1 of the Protection of Privacy Law). Section 2 lists the ways that count as an invasion of privacy, including several that concern online publication directly:

• publishing a person’s photograph in public in circumstances in which the publication may humiliate or demean them (section 2(4));
• using information about a person’s private affairs, or passing it to another, other than for the purpose for which it was given (section 2(9));
• publishing something obtained through an invasion of privacy, such as spying, prohibited eavesdropping or photographing a person in the private domain (section 2(10));
• publishing a matter concerning the intimate personal life of a person, including their sexual history, their state of health or their conduct in the private domain (section 2(11)).

An invasion of privacy is a civil wrong (section 4), and there is no right to sue for an invasion of no real substance (section 6). For the purposes of section 2, a “person” does not include a corporation (section 3), so a company cannot claim an invasion of its privacy. It can sue for defamation, where a “person” is an individual or a corporation (section 1 of the Prohibition of Defamation Law).

The defendant has defenses, including a protected publication under section 13 of the Prohibition of Defamation Law (section 18(1)), an invasion committed in good faith in one of the circumstances in section 18(2), and an invasion that involved a public interest justifying it in the circumstances of the case, provided that, if the invasion was by way of publication, the publication was not false (section 18(3)).

What may the court order?

In a claim for invasion of privacy, the court may, in addition to any other remedy, order a ban on distributing copies of the infringing material or its confiscation, publication of the judgment at the defendant’s expense, delivery of the infringing material to the injured person, and destruction of information obtained unlawfully or a ban on its use (section 29(a) of the Protection of Privacy Law). In a defamation claim, it may order a ban on distributing copies of the publication or their confiscation, and publication of a correction, a denial (retraction) or the judgment at the defendant’s expense (section 9(a) of the Prohibition of Defamation Law). If the defendant admitted that some of the statements are defamatory or that some of them are untrue, the court may order publication of a correction or a denial even before the judgment (section 10).

Both laws provide that these orders do not prevent keeping a copy of the publication in public libraries, archives and the like, unless the court also restricted such keeping in the confiscation order, and that they do not prevent a private person from keeping a copy (section 29(b) of the Protection of Privacy Law, section 9(b) of the Prohibition of Defamation Law).

Both laws also allow compensation without proof of damage, up to a cap that is updated according to the CPI (section 29A of the Protection of Privacy Law, section 7A of the Prohibition of Defamation Law). Details in the guides Compensation for invasion of privacy: claims and case law and Defamation claims in Israel: how much is awarded, and what you must prove.

Wrong or out-of-date information in a database: can you demand deletion?

Yes, when the information is in a “database”, that is, a collection of items of personal information processed by digital means, except a collection for personal use that is not for business purposes, and a collection that includes only names, addresses and contact details, under the conditions in the Law (section 3). Every person is entitled to inspect the personal information about them that is held in a database (section 13(a)). A person who inspected the information and found that it is not correct, complete, clear or up to date may ask the controller of the database to correct the information or delete it (section 14(a)).

If the controller agreed to the request, it makes the changes and notifies them to everyone who received the information from it in the period set in regulations (section 14(b)). If it refused, it must notify the person who made the request in the manner set in regulations (section 14(c)), and that person may file an action in court (section 15). Against a controller that agreed to the request and did not make the changes, or did not give notice of its refusal as required, the court may award exemplary damages, which do not depend on harm, of up to NIS 10,000 (section 15A(a)(4)–(5)). The head of the Privacy Protection Authority supervises compliance with the Law and the regulations under it with regard to databases (section 17I1(a)).

Two caveats. First, the right is meant for human beings: for the purposes of sections 13 and 14, a “person” does not include a corporation (section 3). Second, it applies to information that is not correct, complete, clear or up to date, and it is not a general right to delete correct information. The Law also does not say expressly whether search engine results are a “database” for this purpose.

An old article about an investigation or an indictment: what can you demand?

If a media outlet published that a criminal investigation was opened against a person, that an indictment was filed against them or that they were convicted, and it was later decided to close the case, not to file an indictment or to stay the proceedings, or they were acquitted or their appeal was accepted, they may demand in writing that the media outlet publish the up-to-date decision. The media outlet must publish it within a reasonable time from the day it received the demand (section 25A(a) of the Prohibition of Defamation Law), with due prominence and taking into account, among other things, the way in which the original report was published (section 25A(b)). An act or omission contrary to this duty is a civil wrong (section 25A(c)).

A “media outlet” for the purposes of the Law is a newspaper, and radio and television broadcasts provided to the public (section 11(c)). Note that the duty is to publish an update, not to delete the report. And a correct and fair report of what was said or happened at a public court hearing is not grounds for criminal or civil proceedings, provided that the publication was not prohibited under section 21 (section 13(7)).

From whom do you ask, and on what basis?

A request to a search engine or a platform: what does it change?

Removing a link from the search results leaves the publication itself on the website; removing the publication requires the person who holds the page. Search engines and social networks run forms for removal requests, and they decide on them under the policies and terms of use that they themselves publish and update. The decision is theirs, and you cannot know in advance whether a request will be accepted. So keep a record of the request and of the reply, and submit the request in parallel with the legal steps, not instead of them.

On a harmful publication online and on identifying an anonymous user, see Defamation and libel online: removal, identifying the publisher and compensation.

What to do, in order

1. Documentation: a screenshot that includes the page address, the date and time, and the direct link. A publication may be deleted or changed after you contact the publisher.
2. Who holds the information: who wrote it, who runs the website, and whether the information comes from a database of a particular body.
3. A written request: stick to the facts, use no labels, and send it only to whoever needs to receive it. A letter that attributes something harmful to another person and reaches someone other than that person may itself be a publication (section 2 of the Prohibition of Defamation Law). See A warning letter before a defamation claim: what it should include and what not.
4. A request to the search engine: in parallel, using its form, with a record of what was submitted.
5. The court: when the request was not answered and there is a cause of action under one of the laws.

Representation in defamation claims and in the removal of publications, for injured parties and for those who are sued: Defamation and reputation.

Do you want to check your case? Arrange a first call to look at your case.

Frequently asked questions

Is there a right to be forgotten in Israel against search engines?

Israeli law has no express provision that gives such a right. A request to remove a search result is examined under the policy that the search engine itself publishes. At the same time, you can act against the person who published, when the publication is an invasion of privacy or is defamation (section 29 of the Protection of Privacy Law, section 9 of the Prohibition of Defamation Law), or ask for personal information in a database that is not correct or up to date to be corrected or deleted (section 14 of the Protection of Privacy Law).

Can I demand that a news site delete an old article about me?

There is no general right to delete a correct report. If the article was published by a media outlet, which the law defines as a newspaper or as radio and television broadcasts provided to the public (section 11(c) of the Prohibition of Defamation Law), and it reported on a criminal investigation, an indictment or a conviction, and the case was closed or you were acquitted, you can demand in writing that it publish the up-to-date decision, and it must publish it within a reasonable time and with due prominence (section 25A of the Prohibition of Defamation Law). If the article is defamatory, or it invades privacy, and there is no defense for it under the law, the remedies of the Prohibition of Defamation Law and of the Protection of Privacy Law are available.

Can a company ask for removal under the Protection of Privacy Law?

No. For the purposes of the sections on invasion of privacy and on inspecting, correcting and deleting information in a database, a “person” does not include a corporation (section 3 of the Protection of Privacy Law). A company harmed by a publication can act under the Prohibition of Defamation Law, in which a “person” is an individual or a corporation (section 1).

Does a court order require the publication to be deleted everywhere?

The court may order a ban on distributing copies of the publication or their confiscation (section 29(a)(1) of the Protection of Privacy Law, section 9(a)(1) of the Prohibition of Defamation Law). The orders do not prevent keeping a copy in public libraries and archives, unless the court also restricted that in the confiscation order, and they do not prevent a private person from keeping a copy (section 29(b) of the Protection of Privacy Law, section 9(b) of the Prohibition of Defamation Law).