A Montrealer will receive $500,000 from Google for defamation

Google must pay $500,000 to a Montrealer who sued her for defamation.

Google to pay $500,000 to Montreal businessman for defamation and damage to reputation. The American company has reactivated a link to an article where the man was falsely accused of pedophilia. The Quebec Superior Court judge demands that all search results leading to the article in question be deleted.

The Montrealer had warned Google in 2007 that defamatory content about him was available online . This content was removed and then reappeared in 2009, 2011 and finally in 2015, when Google flatly refused to remove it.

Google defended itself by claiming that Quebec law did not apply not in its activities under the free trade agreement between Canada, the United States and Mexico and that it was only answerable to American law. The judge instead determined that the company should have removed the articles in question since it had been informed that it was facilitating access to illegal content.

Although the Montrealer initially claimed $6 million from Google, he will receive $500,000 in moral damages for the impact this case has had on his career and personal life.