Google warns of ‘devastating’ impact if court ruling on defamatory hyperlinks not overturned

Google has warned of a "devastating" impact on the internet if a court ruling that the search giant is liable for defamatory material contained in hyperlinked pages is not overturned.

Google warned in a submission to the high court it will be forced to "censor" its search results if a $40,000 defamation damages award to George Defteros, a solicitor who represented Melbourne gangland figures, is allowed to stand.

Defteros successfully sued Google, arguing its publication of search results that included a 2004 article in the Age about his arrest on conspiracy to murder charges - which were later dropped - defamed him.

In 2020, the Victorian supreme court justice Melinda Richards ruled the article had implied that Defteros crossed a line from professional lawyer to confidant and friend to criminal elements. Victoria's court of appeal rejected a bid from Google to overturn the result.

Defteros' lawyers had contacted Google in 2016 asking for the article to be removed but it refused on the basis the Age was a reputable source.

Google's lawyers told the high court the notice contained "false" claims that Defteros had sued the Age in defamation and the Age had agreed to remove it from its website.

Google warned if the court of appeal judgment stands "Google will be liable as the publisher of any matter published on the web to which its search results provide a hyperlink" after a person complains the matter defamed them - "regardless of the quality" of that notice.