Wednesday’s decision by Australia’s top court to reject a finding that Google had violated the law by providing a link to a disputed newspaper article has once again brought attention to the country’s procedures for handling internet libel cases.
The High Court of Australia’s seven-judge full bench voted 5-2 to overturn a previous determination that the website had an active involvement in publishing the disputed item by serving as a “library” for it.
Where responsibility for internet defamation lies in Australia has long been a subject of debate, but the ruling has just added to the complexity.
It was published by an independent newspaper over which the appellant had no control or influence and was authored by a reporter with no relationship to the appellant.
They stated that “Google does not own or control the internet.”
A Google official was unavailable for comment right away.
In spite of the process being “long, drawn-out, expensive, and incredibly stressful,” Defteros said in a statement that he felt vindicated because the court determined that the post was defamatory even if Google was not held accountable.
The decision follows the High Court’s finding that a newspaper publisher was responsible for the defamatory remarks made beneath an item that it had posted on Facebook last year.
The media businesses in the 2021 Facebook case were not present in the Wednesday case.