Europe's highest court ruled on Tuesday that people have the "right to be forgotten" and can ask Google to remove some sensitive information from Internet search results.

The judgment was handed down by the Luxembourg-based Court of Justice of the European Union in a development that highlights ongoing battles between supporters of privacy rights and those who advocate for freedom of expression.

The court ruled that Google, if asked to do so, must amend links to information shown to be outdated or information deemed to be irrelevant.

"If, following a search made on the basis of a person's name, the list of results displays a link to a web page which contains information on the person in question, that data subject may approach the operator directly and, where the operator does not grant his request, bring the matter before the competent authorities in order to obtain, under certain conditions, the removal of that link from the list of results," the judges said in their ruling.