Flanders: old press articles, fake reviews and Google results

Who we serve in Belgium

This page is for people and businesses in Flanders and other Dutch-speaking Belgians. French-speaking Belgians, in Wallonia or Brussels, are served by our French site, on its page for Belgium (in French).

Belgian residents have sent Google 49,246 delisting requests since 2014, and 3,855 in the last 12 months. Google delisted 50.5% of the requested URLs (Google’s own figures for the whole of Belgium, Transparency Report). Google handles about 88% of Belgian searches and Bing 8.6%, so we can add a Bing request for important cases.

Old articles: the Hurbain ruling

In 1994 a newspaper reported a fatal car accident and named the driver. Years later the article went online in the paper’s digital archive. The driver, who had served his sentence and been rehabilitated, asked for his name to be removed. Belgian courts ordered anonymisation, and the publisher went to the European Court of Human Rights.

On 4 July 2023 the Grand Chamber ruled, by 12 votes to 5, that the anonymisation order did not breach press freedom (Columbia Global Freedom of Expression). This gives a strong basis for asking Flemish publishers to anonymise old crime stories about private people. It does not oblige a given publisher to act: each request is weighed. If the article ran in a French-language Belgian paper, see our French page on removing a press article.

1. We check the article: age, your role, whether you were or became a public figure, what happened since.
2. You sign a mandate and send ID. We write to the publisher’s editor or data protection officer, asking for anonymisation, an update or a no-index tag.
3. We file a Google delisting request for searches on your name.
4. If the publisher refuses, the next step is a complaint to the Belgian data protection authority (Gegevensbeschermingsautoriteit, GBA). We prepare it; you sign and send it.

Fake reviews and review extortion

On 2 October 2025, VRT reported that a scammer had posted fake negative reviews about a moving company and then asked for money to remove them (VRT NWS). Flemish businesses use the same review platforms as their Dutch neighbours: Google, Kiyoh and Trustpilot. We found no Flemish company selling review reports; Dutch agencies serve the market at €75 to €495 per review, paid only on success.

We report each review under the platform’s rules, with evidence: Google reviews, Kiyoh and Klantenvertellen, Trustpilot. Belgian law offers civil and criminal routes against insults and defamation, but those need a lawyer. NetClearer is not a law firm and does not give legal advice.

What we cannot promise in Belgium

• Publishers decide on their archives; the *Hurbain* ruling helps, it does not decide your case.
• Google decides on delisting, case by case.
• Genuine negative reviews stay; we never post or buy reviews.
• We have not verified every Belgian rule; where we have doubts, we say so before you order.

Price and payment

€29 incl. VAT per link, €20 incl. VAT per review request. Cards, Apple Pay and Google Pay work; the payment page shows any other method available to you. No refund once your request has been filed. This site is also available in Dutch (Nederlands).