Google claims court ruling will force it to ‘censor’ the internet

Google has asked Australia’s Supreme Court to overturn a 2020 ruling it warned could have a “devastating” impact on the wider internet. In one The search giant announced on Friday it will be forced to “act as moderators” if the country’s highest court does not overturn a decision that awarded a lawyer $40,000. is libel damages for an article the company linked through its search engine, reports .

In 2016, George Defteros, a Victorian barrister whose past client list included individuals associated with Melbourne’s , contacted Google to ask the company to remove a 2004 article from . This section reports on the murder charges that prosecutors have filed against Defteros in connection with the deaths of three men. Those fees were later repealed in 2005. The company refused to remove the article from its search results because it considered the publication a reputable source.

The matter was finally brought to court with Defteros successful debate articles and Google search results smeared him. The judge overseeing the case has ruled Ages reports imply Delteros has had close ties to Melbourne’s criminal underworld. The Victorian Court of Appeal later denied a request by Google to overturn the ruling.

From Google’s point of view, the problem here is one of the fundamental foundations of the Internet. “A hyperlink in itself is not the communication it links to,” the company protested in its submission to the Supreme Court. If the 2020 ruling is upheld, Google announced it would hold itself “responsable as a publisher for any matter published on a site where its search results provide links”, including articles from reputable sources. To protect itself, the company points out from the Supreme Court of Canada, which holds a hyperlink on its own is never a place to publish defamatory material.

We have reached out to Google for comment.