Australian Court Slaps Google with $500K Fine Over Defamatory Videos

After the Australian Federal court has found Google liable for defamation, the US tech giant has been ordered to pay A$715,000 ($515,000) to a former Australian lawmaker who was driven out of politics due to YouTube videos it failed to take down.

The court found that the Alphabet Inc company, which owns content-sharing website YouTube, actually made money by broadcasting the videos that have been viewed almost 800,000 times since being posted in late 2020.

Without citing credible evidence, the content creator Jordan Shanks, according to the court, uploaded the videos in which he repeatedly brands lawmaker John Barilaro corrupt and calls him names.

The judge handling the case, Steve Rares, said the videos amounted to nothing less than hate speech, and Google, by continuing to publish them, breached its own policies of protecting public figures from being unfairly targeted.

The court decision alleges that Google’s failure to take down a YouTuber’s two relentless, racist, vilificatory, abusive, and defamatory campaign of videos attacking the then-deputy premier of New South Wales, Australia’s most populous state, drove Barilaro prematurely from his chosen service in public life and traumatized him significantly.

Hence, according to Rares’ decision, Google cannot escape its liability for the substantial damage that Shanks’ campaign caused.

Despite the fact that the tech giant has been found liable for defamation before mainly for supplying links to articles in search results, this ruling is among the first in which Google has been deemed an active publisher of content that defamed an elected official – via YouTube.

Although Google and other internet giants claim they cannot be reasonably expected to police all posts, a review of defamation law in Australia is attempting to establish whether online platforms should be held accountable for defamatory content they host.

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