ETHICAL CHALLENGES OF THE RIGHT TO BE FORGOTTEN IN BLOCKCHAIN SYSTEMS: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW

Abstract

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) defines the Right to Be Forgotten (RTBF) as the right of individuals to request the deletion of their personal data under certain conditions. While this right reflects key ethical principles such as autonomy and control over personal information, its implementation poses significant challenges in blockchain systems, where immutability is a core design feature. This tension creates ethical, technical, and governance-related concerns. This study systematically reviews the academic literature on the relationship between RTBF and blockchain technologies, with a particular focus on ethical issues. Following the PRISMA 2020 guidelines for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses, a comprehensive literature search conducted on January 3, 2026 resulted in the inclusion of 46 peer-reviewed studies. The selected studies were analyzed based on four research questions addressing: (1) the conceptualization of RTBF, (2) ethical conflicts arising from blockchain immutability, (3) proposed technical and governance-oriented solutions, and (4) existing limitations and research gaps. The findings indicate that RTBF is predominantly interpreted as a legal obligation rather than an ethical principle. The most frequently identified ethical challenge concerns the conflict between immutable ledgers and data deletion requirements. Proposed mitigation strategies include privacy-by-design approaches, off-chain data storage, hash-based referencing, and redactable blockchain mechanisms. However, significant challenges remain, including legal uncertainty, scalability and interoperability limitations, and unclear governance responsibilities. Overall, this review provides a structured synthesis of existing research, contributing to a deeper ethical understanding of RTBF in blockchain systems and offering insights for future research, system design, and regulatory policymaking.