A Montrealer who embarked on a long crusade against Google after seeing his reputation ruined by a deceptive site has been awarded $500,000 for damages caused by the web giant.
“Any ordinary person would suffer [grandement] by being falsely called a child molester and a pederast, and by knowing that a search engine facilitates access to the site containing the false declarations”, affirmed the judge of the Superior Court Azimuddin Hussain, in a recent decision.
A publication ban prevents us from identifying the victim, who is a “leading businessman who led a life of achievement in the public and private sectors” in both Canada and the United States, according to the judgment .
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His nightmare began in 2007, when he became aware of a post on a website, where it was then mentioned that he was a fraudster, but even worse, that he had been convicted of pedophilia in 1984.
It was by doing a simple Google search with his own name, thus imitating a large majority of Internet users, that he made the terrible discovery.
“He had no way of explaining why meetings he had with potential clients weren’t resulting in retainers even though the meetings themselves seemed to be going well,” the ruling says.
Unsuccessful steps
Quickly, the victim and some friends took steps to remove the mention of this website which appeared in the first results on Google. But without much success.
In 2009, the digital giant told the complainant that it had granted his request. However, the link was only removed from the Canadian version of Google, not the US platform.
The victim’s celebrations were short-lived, as in 2011 he discovered that the deceptive site was again appearing in the top search results. The same unpleasant surprise occurred in 2015.
Tired of little cooperation from Google, he finally started legal proceedings in 2016 to settle the situation once and for all.
Huge damage
At trial, the victim testified to having suffered enormously in this whole process, she who lost a fortune to the point of having difficulty making ends meet. Friends who remained faithful to him even had to lend him money.
“The plaintiff testified to his recurring sense of shame at being associated with the defamatory message. He periodically had suicidal thoughts”, describes the decision of judge Hussain, who specifies that the victim proved “beyond the shadow of a doubt” that the alleged crimes were simply false.
“The crime is so heinous that ordinary people do not think that the accusation […] can be made without some truth. Where there is smoke, there is fire, according to the popular expression (sometimes erroneous)”, deplores the magistrate, adding that the credibility which the public confers on Google played in the balance.
Faced with the numerous psychological impacts on the victim, Judge Hussain therefore condemned Google to pay him the sum of $500,000, he who originally claimed $6 million.
“The defamatory message is still hidden in cyberspace, waiting to be captured by the dynamic and kaleidoscopic algorithms of Google Search, in order to inject its poison. Uncertainty itself can be experienced by human beings as a form of mental torment.