Google and other search engines shouldn’t be forced to apply the European Union’s “right to be forgotten” beyond the bloc’s borders, an adviser to the EU’s top court said Thursday, citing a potential threat to free expression.

The recommendation, if followed by the EU’s Luxembourg-based Court of Justice, would be a major victory for Google, a unit of Alphabet Inc., which for three years has been fighting an order from France’s privacy regulator to apply the EU principle globally.