Why do American commenters become so defensive whenever an American company operating abroad is subject to local laws? Foreign countries aren't subject to the first amendment of the US constitution, and a lot of other countries both through law and through social norms don't consider freedom of speech absolute.

This law doesn't allow individuals to remove any information they find distasteful, it allows individuals to apply to remove information about THEM. And there is already built in a "public interest" defence, meaning if there is a public interest to the link then the link stays.

Ultimately this isn't black and white, and there are some interesting use cases of this Right to be forgotten (e.g. revenge porn), I'd suggest people read the Wikipedia article top to bottom, it is quite fascinating: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_to_be_forgotten

But I'll say this, whatever opinion you come away with, you cannot criticise France for not holding up to the US's ideals. If Google doesn't want to operate under the EU's privacy standards then Google can leave.

I also find it slightly ironic that Americans on one hand whine endlessly about other countries violating perceived rights while on the other operating the world's largest surveillance dragnet, and Americans routinely say (paraphrasing) "it is unacceptable to monitor Americans, but fine to spy on foreigners!" So if you're going to start arguing that the US's 1st amendment should apply in France then I'm going to argue that the US's 4th amendment should too!