The Right to Be Forgotten Evaluated: A Necessity Caused by Virtual World or a Threat to the Freedom of Expression!?

The right to be forgotten is a relatively recent concept raised in the European Union and the United States. This right authorizes people to require deletion of information and data published on internet with their consent or by third parties; if a person applies this right, the others may not follow them via search engines and with the passage of time, different social stigma are not affixed to them. This right is not absolute and must be considered in conjunction with other rights such as freedom of expression and media freedom. Therefore, it is necessary, based on specific circumstances of each case, to determine, whether a deletion request is justified. This article, through a descriptive-analytic method, has studied this issue in the legal systems of the European Union, the United States, Iran and Imamia jurisprudence and concluded that in Iran, such right does not clearly exist and its legal recognition is necessary.