A second businessman who wants links to articles about his criminal past removed from search engine results has launched a high court fight.

The man, known as NT2, was convicted more than 10 years ago of conspiracy to intercept communications, a high court judge has been told.



NT2 argues his conviction is legally spent and he has a right to be forgotten. Google disagrees and is resisting his request to take down the links to website articles, including several published by national newspapers and media.

The articles included reports on the claimant’s financial affairs, his conviction and interviews given by the claimant several years later containing his account of the circumstances surrounding his conviction.

In 2014 the European Union’s court of justice ruled that “irrelevant” and outdated data should be erased on request.

Since then, Google has received requests to remove at least 2.4m links from search results. Search engines can reject applications if they believe the public interest in accessing the information outweighs a right to privacy.

Mr Justice Warby is analysing evidence in the case of NT2, a process which is expected to end later this week. It follows the case of NT1, for which evidence was heard last week.

NT1 was convicted of conspiracy to account falsely in the late 1990s and wants Google to remove results that mention his case, including web pages published by a national newspaper.

Warby is expected to produce a ruling covering both cases on a date yet to be fixed.