Natalia Denegri rose to fame in the mid-nineties, when the “Coppola Case” put her at the center of the media scene. At that time, the young woman who barely carried the 19-year-old in tow starred in hours and hours of television that kept an audience entertained that consumed the case as if it were a real soap opera .

Of course, those televised fights that generated dozens of rating points in various programs (from Mauro Viale to Chiche Gelblung or Lucho Avilés ) did not have the voluntary endorsement of Denegri, who affirms that she was “used” under threat by television producers, the judge of the case and the police officers involved. A torment that, 26 years later, she tries to put an end to by demanding from Google and YouTube that her name not be associated in their search engines with the videos of her fights on the small screen . “I refuse to let Google tell the world that I am those videos because I am not that: that is the character that the corruption of the nineties wanted to make of me,” she explains before the two hearings called by the Supreme Court for Thursday and Friday in order to address her case.

What is the Right to be forgotten

The claim of “Right to be forgotten” that the now American TV producer and host initiated had two rulings by the Argentine Justice in her favor: both the Federal Contentious Administrative Court No. 5 and the Civil Court of Appeals concluded that Denegri ” She was the only victim because, being a minor, she was used.” The computer giant appealed these sentences before the Supreme Court , which after the hearing in which both parties will present their “amicus curiae” arguing in favor of one position or another, must make a final decision (see separate).

The figure of Right to be Forgotten refers to the power that a person has to request companies or search engines to eliminate or block personal data of theirs, considering that it affects some of their rights. A concept that the European Union already applies, to the point that the same search engine has a form to request the deindexation of certain personal information, which also had failures in Chile and Peru, but which is not yet in force in Argentina .

Under that figure, Denegri has been trying for a long time to get Google to remove her name linked to the audiovisual extracts of the programs in which she is seen fighting with other women from its search formula, because —as she argues— these were acts contrary to her will when she was a minor , within the framework of a cause for which she was dismissed for lack of merit. A request that generates controversy due to the possibility that its application limits other rights, such as freedom of expression and access to information.

“I want it to be understood that I am not asking that news of the time be deleted. I am a journalist, I would never go against freedom of expression. What I ask is that when searching for my name, videos from the time do not appear that do not transmit anything informative or of public interest, and that on the contrary promote gender violence and digital violence. They are videos from the time of the Coppola Case, where I was the only victim, as was established in criminal proceedings and in administrative litigation,” the journalist stresses.

-Why do you say that you were a “victim” and demand that your name not be associated in the search engines with those images that were televised?

-Being a minor, Judge Hernán Bernasconi —along with corrupt policemen and two girls— implanted drugs in my house , illegally detained me when I was 19 years old when the age of majority was 21, threatened me to go out in the media when They took me out of the dungeon to go to television programs to do a media show… I had nothing to do with anything. I was just in the wrong place. I had to go out, convulsed and threatened, to do all that media show.

-Did they force you to go to TV shows?

-In the television programs they used me. They made me say and do a lot of things that I didn’t understand, but I was pressured to say. I cannot explain in words how much that stage affected me. There are people who surely think “what is she complaining about if she became famous and is doing super well in the United States, won 22 Emmy awards, has her own production company…?” I swear that she would give everything not to relive those years , because it was a nightmare from which I still haven’t managed to wake up.

Does it still affect you today?

Yes, it affects me. I had to leave the country to develop professionally because I was stigmatized here in Argentina. Nobody gave me a chance. I still have nightmares today. Because when they entered my apartment they put me to sleep with a pill and when I wake up I hear the Rabbit Tarantini screaming saying that they were putting drugs on him. And I see all that, which did not exist in my department. And the policemen pointed their guns at my head… The judge cracking up with the other girls congratulating them on what they would have done in my department. I was taken into custody with the Rabbit. Everything I lived in those days imprisoned. Later, everything I experienced in those programs, where the producers extorted metelling me that if I didn’t say such a thing, then other characters would come and invent such and such.

-Beyond the political-judicial use, for many viewers the Coppola case was a television show. No one thought that you were a victim, that you were forced to do certain things, but rather it was believed that you lent yourself to that show. It was not so?

-We were literally kidnapped by the producers. Due to pressure from the police and television producers. If that show were made at this time, they would all be in jail. They took us to live in hotels and they stayed downstairs doing journalistic guards so you wouldn’t go to the competition program. When we got to the channel they told us that if we didn’t say such a thing, if we didn’t put together such a thing, the other character would come and invent something about us. It was terrible. I was detained for three days in the Dolores prison where I suffered the worst aberrations and pressure from the police. It was somewhat traumatic. I cannot describe in words all that I experienced. And when, thanks to wiretapping, it is discovered that she was all armed by the police, who went to plant the drugs in my apartment, to take him to the Rabbit Tarantini, setting him up through the other girls, they set me free and directly a cell phone from a TV show was waiting for me downstairs and they took me directly to the programs. That’s where it all started.

-Do you think there was police complicity with some of the media?

-Yes, yes, the judge (Bernasconi) handled a lot of press. He was very media. Coincidentally, a week ago he gave an interview on a radio and vindicated me, saying that I was the only victim in the case for having been in the wrong place.

-Do you consider that you were held hostage by a media and judicial system, and that the association that Google makes of your name re-victimizes you?

-Absolutely, that’s why I say that if what we went through happened now they would all be in jail. We were minors! Still today I wake up startled, having nightmares, remembering things that made me live… And almost always that happens to me when all these images appear on Google, or people tell me that they saw the videos in the search engine… What Google does it is reliving all that suffering every time those images are linked to my name. It straightens me out. It is a martyrdom. 26 years passed. I have been enduring constant harassment for 26 years, when I was a victim, I was illegally detained and given a lack of merit because I had nothing to do with the case. Enough already. That is why we made this request with my lawyer Martín Leguizamón, butGoogle has very ambiguous positions : on the one hand it tells you that they are going to block content that contains or incites violence, but on the other hand it allows you to follow those videos of fights that incite digital violence against women, especially with someone that she was a victim when she was a minor.

-Your claim may collide with freedom of expression and access to information.

-In Europe the Right to be Forgotten has been proven for many years, in the United States this topic is discussed a lot…. It was applied in Chile, it was applied in Peru… Imagine what would happen today when all the videos with name and surname appeared in search engines and without proof of the image of a person who was coerced to do things against her will by police officers corrupt men who were all dismissed, as was the judge. On the other hand, Google says that it does not deindex those videos because they are newsworthy and informative. As a journalist, I know that something that is news has to be current, novel and resonant. This is something obsolete. It doesn’t add up and even less when a minor is involved, who was pressured to participate in those programs where they involved scenes of violence between women. Cycles that were later lifted due to lack of public interest. I’m not the one in the videos. Videos uploaded by them and individuals who earn fortunes with each click they make.

-In the event that the Court ratifies the previous sentences, what will become of the search for your name on Google?

-The information was never in discussion. The cause refers exclusively to the videos. The ruling of the Chamber is very clear: the delinking of my name with the videos that are not of journalistic interest, such as those of the fights. I do not ask that anything be deleted or stop being published, but that when they search for me on Google and YouTube they do not associate my name with those videos of the fights in the formulas. Videos that will continue to be, but not associated with my name. It is as simple as that. I refuse to let Google tell the world that I am those videos because I am not that: That is the character that the corruption of the nineties wanted to make of me. I am not that: I am Natalia Denegri, woman, Argentine, mother, journalist, producer, philanthropist, supportive, I spend my time bringing light to where there is darkness, working… I want everyone to be able to see who I really am. I am not the one in those videos, which bring me enormous personal, family, work problems, with a daughter who is almost 8 years old and is starting to google, with her friends and the mothers of her friends who are starting to google… Bullying is very serious in the world and in the United States in particular. It is common currency that boys between the ages of 9 and 11 commit suicide in the United States due to bullying. It is very serious and I do not want my children to suffer the same.

Court hearings

In the hearings on Thursday and Friday, the members of the Supreme Court of the Nation will not only listen to the lawyers of the two parties, but also to different specialists and organizations that present themselves as “friends of the court.”, who will explain whether Denegri’s claim is pertinent or not, according to the regulations in force in the country. In the first hearing, representatives of civil society organizations and lawyers specialized in constitutional law and computer rights will participate. On Thursday the day will begin at 10 in the morning, with the participation of the Association of Argentine Journalistic Entities (ADEPA); the Association for Civil Rights (ADC) and the Center for Legal and Social Studies (CELS), the Usina de Justicia Civil Association and the Ombudsman of the City of Buenos Aires, María Rosa Muiños. The lawyers Andrés Gil Domínguez, Raúl Martínez Fazzalari Ricardo Alberto Muñoz (h), Francisco Javier Seminara and Gastón Andrés Navarro are also summoned. While, On the second day, it will be the turn of the Attorney General of the Nation, Víctor Abramovich, and the lawyers of the parties. The decision of the highest court is of the utmost importance since beyond the particular case, it will establish a standard on whether people can ask search engines to stop exposing news from the past that they consider detrimental to their honor.

Natalia Denegri today

Denegri’s life is far removed from television scandals , although it is still linked to television. Based in Miami since 2005, the woman became a well-known presenter and producer on the small screen, where she has been leading a solidarity TV series for years and producing documentaries and films on humanitarian issues. In fact, between one task and another, she garnered 22 Emmy Awards . “I try to get something positive out of everything negative that I have had to experience, to bring light to where there is darkness,” says the journalist.

“After the Coppola case -he recalls- I began to do charitable things, sponsoring foundations and NGOs of people with autism, people with cancer and single mothers in Buenos Aires. Later I met Rodolfo Carnevale , a film director who has an autistic brother, with whom we made El pozo, a film that talked about this problem together with Gustavo Garzón, Eduardo Blanco, Patricia Palmer, Juan Palomino… That film won a prize in a festival in New York, I did a lot of press and it was at that moment that CNN called me to do a humanitarian program. From there I started to make Warrior Hearts, a solidarity journalistic program that is broadcast on Mega TV in Miami, from which we built a movement to offer help and later I was able to open my own production company , dedicated to producing humanitarian aid content.”