Does Disconnecting Comments Instead of Deleting Comply with GDPR?

Question

I recently contacted Hacker News support regarding the deletion of comments. They informed me that rather than deleting comments, they only disconnect specific comments from the user profile, meaning the comments remain online. As a European user, accustomed to online services deleting my data upon request in compliance with GDPR, I find this practice surprising. Is this approach common for online platforms outside of Europe, and does it comply with international data protection standards?

yorwba · Accepted Answer

The GDPR protects personal data, i.e. information "related to an identified or identifiable natural person." https://gdpr-info.eu/issues/personal-data/
Unless the comment itself identifies you in some way, removing the connection to your user profile renders it no longer personal data.
The reason other platforms may decide to simply delete everything when you ask are: 1. they don't care about your old stuff; 2. they don't want to spend time checking individual cases. So they pick the cheapest option.

jruohonen · Answer

> Is this approach common for online platforms outside of Europe, and does it comply with international data protection standards?Yes and no, respectively.

mikewarot · Answer

The GDPR twigs me out, and has since I first heard of it. I'm glad I'm not writing code for the EU. I've spent decades trying very hard NOT to lose data, and they just want to force systems to add data loss, and the inconsistency that generates, as a feature.... it's just sooooooo wrong.
It's wrong in the same way that DRM is wrong.
Am I alone in this?