Australia's highest court decides Google is not liable for defamation

The highest court in Australia reversed a judgment that found Google guilty of defamation for providing a link to a contested newspaper article on Wednesday, focussing attention on how internet libel cases are handled in the country.

The seven-judge panel of the High Court of Australia ruled 5 to 2 to reverse an earlier ruling that the Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Inc subsidiary was involved in the publication of the contentious article by acting as a "library" holding it, stating that the website had no active role.

In Australia, the question of who is responsible for internet-based libel has simmered for years. This decision increases the difficulty. An evaluation of the country's libel law that has lasted years has not yet produced a conclusive answer as to whether Google and Facebook (NASDAQ:META) should be held accountable.

According to the published judgment, the issue stems from a 2004 article alleging that a criminal defense attorney exceeded professional bounds by becoming a "confidant" of criminals. According to the judgment, attorney George Defteros uncovered a connection to the article via a Google search of his name in 2016 and had Google remove it after 150 people viewed it.

A state court determined that Google is a publisher and ordered the company to pay Defteros A$40,000 (US$28,056). Google appealed the conviction, culminating in the verdict issued on Wednesday.

"The Underworld article was not authored by any of the appellant's employees or agents," two panel judges noted in a ruling issued on Wednesday.

"It was written by a journalist unaffiliated with the appellant and published by a newspaper over which the appellant had no influence or control."

Google "does not own or control the internet," they said.

A Google representative was unavailable for immediate comment.

Despite the fact that Google was not found accountable, Defteros felt vindicated because the court agreed that the article was defamatory.

The decision was rendered after the High Court determined last year that a newspaper publisher was liable for defamatory comments posted on Facebook beneath an article it had posted.

The media companies "invited and promoted" comments last year, however Google "did not create a space or area where it could be sent nor did it encourage the drafting of response comments," the judges decided.