Technology
Google loses defamation case against Australian politician
Google's refusal to remove a YouTuber's "relentless, racist, vilificatory, abusive and defamatory" videos drove him out of politics
Sydney: Australia's federal court on Monday ordered Google to pay a former politician A$715,000 ($515,000) in damages after finding he had been defamed by a comedian's videos hosted on YouTube.
According to details, the Australian court ordered Google to pay over $500,000 in damages, saying its refusal to remove a YouTuber's "relentless, racist, vilificatory, abusive and defamatory" videos drove him out of politics.
John Barilaro was deputy premier of the state of New South Wales in 2020, when an Australian comedian known as friendlyjordies uploaded a series of videos to YouTube, accusing the politician of corruption and using an Italian accent to mock his heritage.
Barilaro labelled the videos racist, and broke down in court watching one that had been filmed by friendlyjordies at a luxurious property that the politician owned and rented out on Airbnb.
"I'm traumatised by it," Barilaro said during his testimony.
Barilaro settled with friendlyjordies, whose real name is Jordan Shanks, in late 2021, with the comedian issuing an apology and agreeing to edit the videos.
The videos have now been viewed more than one million times on streaming giant.
While Google, which owns YouTube, had initially defended the case, the search giant eventually abandoned its defences, some of which the court said were "obviously hopeless".
During the proceedings, Justice Steven Rares found Google liable for the harm caused to Barilaro from December 2020— when the politician's lawyers wrote to the company demanding the offending videos be removed and ordered it to pay aggravated damages.
The judge found Google's publication of the videos drove Barilaro from public office prematurely –– he resigned from parliament in October 2020.
Barilaro launched legal action against both Shanks and Google, the owner of YouTube, over two videos titled bruz and Secret Dictatorship, claiming they were “vile and racist” and brought him into “public disrepute, odium, ridicule and contempt”.
The claim against Shanks was settled in November last year, with Shanks apologising for any hurt caused, editing parts of two videos and paying legal costs but not damages. However, the case against Google has continued.