I think your version of the intent is correct but the post by the author makes it sound like google here is a champion of something virtuous when in reality the

I think your version of the intent is correct but the post by the author makes it sound like google here is a champion of something virtuous when in reality they're just protecting their own business interests. If google was a publicly funded operation and their indexing/search algorithms were in the public domain then they might be able to make a convincing case but as it is there is clearly misdirection going on here. From where I stand they are trying to take advantage of the murky definitions around data retention and various policies applicable to personally identifiable information to side-step certain restrictions in various countries that have much stronger policies around use cases of such data.