A Quebec Superior Court judge has ordered Google to pay a Montreal man $500,000 after the tech company restored a link to an online post that falsely accused him of being a pedophile.
The man, whose identity is protected by a posting embargo, first discovered the defamatory posting when he Googled his name in 2006.
While the man was able to remove the link from the search results that appeared on Google Canada’s website, the company later reinstated a link.
The man, described in court documents as a prominent businessman, argued that the defamatory post damaged his career and relationships.
California-based Google argued that Quebec defamation laws did not apply to the case and that it was not obliged to remove the link under U.S. law.
Judge Azimuddin Hussain ruled late last month that Quebec law does apply and that while Google does not need to monitor the content its search engine links to, it must act when it is told it is facilitating access to illegal content.
Law and Forensic Technology