Algorithmic Memory and the Right to Be Forgotten: An Islamic Jurisprudential and Comparative Analysis in Platform Regulation

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
Behyar MoghimiSarani
Davoodi Karami
Homa Davoodi Garmaroudi
Department of Criminal Law and Criminology, Karaj Branch, Islamic Azad University, Alborz, Iran
10.48315/qgl.2025.542712.1262
Abstract
The “right to be forgotten” in Islamic jurisprudence is founded upon principles such as the concealment of faults (satr al-ʿayb), the prohibition of harm (lā ḍarar), repentance (tawba), the prohibition of backbiting (ghībah), and the preservation of human dignity. These principles aim to protect individual reputation, ensure social reintegration, and facilitate personal reform after wrongdoing or the serving of a sentence. They prohibit the continued stigmatization or renewed disclosure of an individual’s past and emphasize the removal of negative consequences once reparation has occurred. However, in today’s digital environment, “algorithmic memory”—with its constant reproduction and persistence of false news, or even accurate but outdated information—effectively undermines this right and creates tension between Islamic jurisprudential foundations and secular legal approaches. In international legal systems, mechanisms such as the “right to erasure” under the GDPR and landmark rulings like Google Spain and Google v. CNIL have demonstrated that complete forgetting remains unattainable and that balancing freedom of expression with the protection of reputation remains a complex challenge. Adopting a comparative–analytical approach and focusing on the case study of the “Bill on Combating the Dissemination of False News Content in Cyberspace,” this research argues that an effective criminal policy should rest on three pillars: targeted penal intervention for serious and harmful cases, strengthened civil compensation and restoration of reputation, and transparent platform regulation through judicially supervised de-indexing. In Iran, despite existing legal capacities, persistent enforcement gaps and the lack of procedural safeguards highlight the urgent need for a three-layered framework to mitigate harms and strike a fair balance between human dignity and freedom of expression.


Keywords
Platforms
Right to Be Forgotten
Algorithmic Memory
Fake News
Freedom of Expression