A Montreal, Canada man will receive $500,000 in compensation from Google for failing to remove an Internet link to a website falsely accusing the man of being a pedophile.
According to a post on Yahoo, the man discovered the pedophilia accusation against him in 2007 while conducting an internet search for his own name.
Google had originally removed the link from its search results for the Canadian website, but, for reasons still unknown, reinstated it.
The smeared individual was a businessman whose career and personal life suffered when the post accusing him of being a pedophile became accessible online.
In Canada, the man’s name is legally protected and cannot be made public.
Google argued that Quebec’s libel laws were not applicable in this case, and that it was not required to remove the link to the post, under US law.
However, Judge Azimuddin Hussian, a Quebec Superior Court judge, said the law does apply.
Although the judge acknowledged that Google is not required to review all links in its search engine, he noted that the company must act when any of those links contain defamatory information.
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