Do you think Google search results are libelous for a company's growth and economical turnaround? or content that the company “publishes” is actually responsible for? One high court in Australia says yes — and the decision, if unchanged on appeal, could have far-reaching repercussions.
By order sentenced by court Google will have to pay $200,000 to music promoter Milorad Trkulja, the plaintiff in this case. This promoter previously claimed to remove links to sites despite Google refused, saying he has connections to and organized criminal group in Melbourne. Google produced documentary evidence under these offensives.
Google’s stance, which was previously approved by many courtrooms around the world is technically strong that it is not a publisher. Google is not a human run, its an algorithm being involved in most likely search results which are trending.
The sites in Google’s search results are controlled by those sites’ webmasters, not by Google, a company spokesperson wrote after the result.
Supreme Court of Victoria jury till now has been agreed with Google's stance. The company wasn’t responsible for the results until Trkulja asked it to take them down, it said. (Read the decision in full here.) Because it stuck to its guns, Google must pay $200,000 in damages.
Naturally, Google is appealing the ruling. The result, if it stands, would not make Google responsible for all the Web’s content, as some have claimed. But it may well force it to comply with every takedown notice it receives from an Australian citizen — and make the Internet Down Under look a lot thinner.
