Italy: delisting after an acquittal, old news and restaurant reviews

What we do in Italy, and what we do not do

Our work in Italy is practical. With your written mandate, we fill in Google’s EU privacy form, the report forms of review platforms and social networks, and we write to the owners of the websites that publish the content. The aim is delisting (Google stops showing a page for your name), removal at the source, or both.

In Italy, legal advice given in an organised way and for pay is reserved to lawyers (Law 247/2012). So we do not give legal consultations, we do not tell you which law applies to your case, and we do not go to court. When this page mentions a law or a ruling, it is general information about the Italian context, not advice on your situation. For that, consult a lawyer in Italy.

Italy in figures

Italian residents have sent Google 156,981 delisting requests since 2014, and 11,501 in the last 12 months. Google delisted 45.6% of the requested URLs (Google’s own figures since 2014, Transparency Report). Fewer than half: a request needs clear facts and documents.

Google handles about 87% of Italian searches, Bing about 6% and Yahoo, which shows Bing results, about 5% (StatCounter). A Bing request, as an extra link, covers most of the rest.

Acquitted or case dismissed: the art. 64-ter annotation

Since the Cartabia reform (Legislative Decree 150/2022), a person who was acquitted, or whose case ended with *archiviazione* (dismissal) or *non luogo a procedere* (no case to answer), can ask the court registry (*cancelleria*) for an annotation under article 64-ter of the implementing rules of the Code of Criminal Procedure (Brocardi). The annotation states that the decision supports a request to search engines.

You obtain the annotation from the registry yourself. We then attach it to the delisting request we file with Google for each link, with the facts of your case, and we follow up.

The annotation is not a magic key. In ruling 34217 of 26 December 2025, the Court of Cassation held that delisting is not automatic: Google may still keep a result when the public interest in the news remains (QuotidianoPiù). Time passed, your public role and the accuracy of the article still count. Google decides. See old criminal news.

Old news in Italian newspapers

Many Italian cases are local news: an arrest, an investigation, a company in trouble, reported once and never updated. We write to the newspaper with your documents and ask it to update the article, add a note about the acquittal or stop its archive from being indexed. Italian case law has recognised that an archived article can be completed with the outcome of the case. The publisher decides. See old news articles.

Restaurant, hotel and doctor reviews

Italians check reviews before they book: TheFork alone received 1.2 million new Italian reviews in 2025. For businesses, the platforms that matter are Google, TheFork, Tripadvisor and Booking.com; for doctors and dentists, MioDottore.

• Law 34/2026 (the 2026 annual SME law, in force since 7 April 2026) sets rules for reviews of restaurants and tourist accommodation: a review should come from a real customer, within 30 days of the visit, without payment or reward. Its application depends on guidelines from the competition authority (AGCM), which we had not seen published in October 2026. Each platform still applies its own policy.
• Fake reviews are banned in the whole EU since 2022. In March 2026 the AGCM fined Trustpilot €4 million over how it checked and labelled reviews (LentePubblica).
• MioDottore belongs to the same group as ZnanyLekarz in Poland. We report reviews that appear to break its rules; removing the profile itself is rarely possible.

We report each review through the platform’s own form, citing the policy it appears to break, for €20 incl. VAT per review. Genuine reviews stay. See Google reviews and Tripadvisor.

The Garante and the courts

Italy’s data protection authority, the *Garante per la protezione dei dati personali*, handled 4,288 formal complaints (*reclami*) and 145,846 reports in 2025. If Google or a website refuses, you can lodge a *reclamo* with the Garante yourself. We give you the complete case file: every request, date and answer. Whether a complaint or a court case is worth it is a question for a lawyer.

Italy also remembers the reputation agencies exposed in 2023 for invented articles and fake notices, which charged €200 to €2,000 per link (Il Post). We never use such methods: every request is real, in your name, and you see it. Read how we work.

Price, language and payment

€29 incl. VAT per link, €20 incl. VAT per review request, cards and SEPA. This site also has an Italian version, in the language menu. The case opens the same day you order. No refund once your request has been filed. NetClearer is not a law firm and does not give legal advice.