YouTube ordered to pay politician £410,000 for hosting abusive videos that led him out of politics | Science & Technology News

Google has been ordered to pay damages to an Australian politician AU$715,000 (£410,000) for refusing to remove “relentless, racist, defamatory, abusive and defamatory videos”. on Youtube.

The ruling is the latest in a series of legal rulings and government initiatives in Australia tried to hold social media companies accountable for their users’ content.

Unlike in the United States, United Kingdom and European Union, Australian law holds online platforms the same liability as publishers for the content they host.

John Barilaro, the former deputy prime minister of New South Wales – the country’s most populous state and home to Sydney – said the abuse YouTube video pushed him out of politics.

On Monday, the Federal Court of Australia found that Google-whose ownership YouTube has knowingly profited from two videos that have been viewed nearly 800,000 times since being posted in 2020.

Judge Steve Rares said the videos – which attack Mr Barilaro’s Italian heritage and allegedly contain no evidence that he was “corrupt” – were “nothing more than hate speech”.

Judge Rares said that Google violated its own policies to protect public figures and so “early ejected Mr Barilaro from the service he had chosen in public life and left him traumatized.” serious injuries”.

Content creator Jordan Shanks, who posts videos under the name Friendly Jordies, has 625,000 subscribers on his YouTube channel and 346,000 followers on Facebook.

Shanks was originally a co-defendant in the case until he reached a A$100,000 (£57k) settlement with the politician last year. The settlement also included him editing some of his videos about Mr Barilaro.

Judge Rares said: “Google cannot shirk its responsibility for the substantial damage caused by Mr. Shanks’ campaign.

Mr Barilaro told reporters outside the court he felt “vindicated and vindicated” by the ruling.

“It was never about the money. It was about an apology, the removal. Of course, now an apology is worthless after the campaign resumes. It has been taken to a court. to force the involvement of Google,” Reuters reported.

A Google spokesperson was not available for comment.