The conundrum of erasing digital footprints: A regulatory challenge

As technology advances, the idea of deleting one’s digital traces has sparked discussions, and worries. Now, digital material can persist permanently and may be simply found through search engines. The mechanisms like auto suggest, and machine learning contribute to information leakage through search engines. This prompts consideration of how individuals can efficiently oversee their online presence, and maintain authority over their personal data. To solve this concern, Europe has remedied it by recognising the principle of the right to be forgotten (hereinafter mentioned as RTBF), and given primacy to individual privacy, or the public’s interest in information. Unlike Europe, the United States of America gives primacy to information access as well as freedom of speech and believes the RTBF conflicts with the First Amendment. The concept of the RTBF under different nomenclatures has evolved as a kind of possible approach to address the side effects of digital footprints across the globe. Meanwhile, India has recently introduced the Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023, which gives a place to the right to erasure. The review of the literature reveals a dearth of research analysis on Indian jurisprudence around the new data protection law, and RTBF. The research explores whether the RTBF finds a place in Indian jurisprudence. The authors gain a better grasp of the study by contrasting the Indian regulatory framework with its Western counterparts and propose possible directions for future research.