On January 31, 2017, the Japanese Supreme Court issued a decision (source document in Japanese) dismissing an individual's request to remove search results from an online search engine. In reaching its decision, the Supreme Court set a balancing test weighing the individual's legal interest and the potential harm to the individual against the public interest and needs for such facts to be published. The Supreme Court affirmed the lower court's decision to dismiss the individual's claim because the facts were related to public interest and because the search results were not widely disseminated.
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