Google gets clean chit in long-running defamation case in Australia

Google's long-running battle of acquitting itself over a defamation case in Australia, has finally come to an end. The country's High Court gave Google the clean chit, with a judgement that could be potentially trend setting for similar cases.

In 2004, Australian publication The Age ran an article that allegedly defamed state lawyer George Defteros, whose clients were among the accused in the Melbourne gangland killings.

Defteros sued Google in 2016, accusing the hardware and search giant of providing access and steering people to the article, and appealed that the company be held accountable as a publisher. Google lost its initial battle in the Victorian supreme court, who ruled in favor of Defteros and ordered Google to pay $40,000 in damages in 2020.

Google took issue with the judgement and appealed to the high court, fearing that the result would set a precedent, forcing it act as a censor for the internet.

The High Court has now acquitted Google of all charges, and rubbished claims that Google be seen as a publisher of the article. The court said that Google merely "facilitated" access to the article, and didn't have a hand in writing or publishing it.

In a joint statement to The Guardian, Chief Justice Susan Kiefel and Justice Jacqueline Gleeson said that, "a hyperlink is merely a tool which enables a person to navigate to another webpage".

The court also ruled against Defteros' claim that Google acted as a proxy, and led visitors to the story. The judges said that people who viewed the story, were already searching for relevant content, and Google did not have a part to play in that. The judges pointed out that if it had been a sponsored link, then Defteros' may have had a case.