Is it possible, under the GDPR, to request publicly available information to be taken down from an aggregator?
<p>In Sweden, there are many services available that collect publicly available personal information (such as telephone numbers, addresses, social security numbers, income, mortgages, registered cars) and sells those aggregations (or gives them away for ad-revenue).</p>

<p>Since the government provides this information, they probably argue that they are allowed to handle this data. Is that correct? </p>

<p>Can I request this information to be removed?</p>

<p>Does not, in fact, the GDPR require those companies to check with each person living in Sweden whether they allow this data aggregation?</p>

<p>These are privately owned entities, not government agencies.</p>

<p>No, you have generally no absolute right to request this data to be removed in Sweden.</p>

<p>I assume you refer to services like <a href="https://www.hitta.se/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Hitta.se</a> and <a href="https://www.merinfo.se" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Merinfo.se</a>. They are to some extent exempted from GDPR in Sweden under the Law on Freedom of Expression, which overrules GDPR (see <a href="https://gdpr-info.eu/art-85-gdpr/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Article 85 GDPR</a>). These services are granted a certain license to distribute information, called a "Utgivningsbevis" (see <a href="https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utgivningsbevis" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Wikipedia, in Swedish</a>).</p>

<p>It should be noted that this issue is debated in Sweden, especially following the entry into force of GDPR. See for instance <a href="http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2%3A1186677&amp;dswid=4512" rel="nofollow noreferrer">this student paper in Swedish</a>. </p>

<p>However, my understanding is that you may contact them to correct incorrect information. Also, although the sites are partly exempted from GDPR, their named publisher is personally liable for certain criminal activities on the site, such as certain hate crime, defamation and insult (see further on the <a href="http://www.mprt.se/att-sanda/krav-och-regler/ansvarig-utgivare/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">license granting authority's web page (in Swedish)</a>).</p>

<p>As per GDPR, you have the right to ask them to delete the data, if they aren't Government Bodies.
The Privacy Policy should also be read and understood, as per why they cannot delete the data.</p>

gdpr sweden