The Tokyo High Court on Monday rejected a man's request to make Twitter, Inc. delete information about his arrest record posted on the social media site, overturning on appeal a lower court ruling that ordered the U.S. company to do so.
The man from the Tohoku region had claimed that leaving such information available online violates his right to privacy.
In 2017, the Supreme Court set strict standards regarding requests to delete arrest records available online, ruling in favor of Google by saying that search engines are the foundation of information distribution, and thus deleting such information could lead to limiting acts of expression.
Likewise, in Monday's high court ruling, Presiding Judge Hiroshi Noyama said Twitter "plays a major role as a foundation of information distribution" as it is the sixth most-accessed site in the world and used by U.S. President Donald Trump and other celebrities to disseminate information.
The lower court had found in favor of the man, ruling that "Twitter is merely a website, therefore it is not a foundation of information distribution like search engines."
Presiding Judge Noyama, in rejecting the man's request, said, "What can be deleted is limited to cases where the benefits of not disclosing facts that concern privacy clearly prevail." He added that the information was posted on Twitter for the benefit of the public.
According to the high court ruling, the man had been arrested in 2012 on suspicion of breaking into a building and paid fines under a summary order. His name and other details were reported, and several posts regarding the matter remain on Twitter.
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