Ulrich Richter Morales, a Mexican lawyer, decided to file a complaint against Google after repeatedly asking it to delist a blog. The site in question publishes articles that damage the reputation of the complainant. The court ruled in favor of the latter and ordered the payment of a fine of 234 million euros.
If Google is far from being a stranger to fines, the one imposed by the civil court of Mexico somewhat out of the ordinary. Indeed, the legal concerns of the Mountain View firm generally concern the misuse of the personal data of its users or questionable commercial practices – a category which is costing it more and more. His conviction in Mexico, on the other hand, is quite different since it is a case of moral damage.
The latter dates back to 2015, when Ulrich Richter Morales, a Mexican lawyer, contacted Google in order to remove a certain blog from search results. According to him, the blog in question claims that the man is involved in money laundering, influence peddling or falsification of documents. Ulrich Richter Morales argues that these articles damage its reputation and therefore asks Google to delist them.
On the same subject — Google: a user is sentenced to pay a fine of €1,800 because of a comment
Google fined 234 million euros for non-pecuniary damage
Faced with Google’s inaction, the lawyer then decided to file a complaint and claimed damages from the firm. Justice will give him reason by condemning Google to pay him 5 billion pesos, or approximately 234 million euros. Of course, the web giant does not intend to let it go so easily and, as with many other convictions, to decide to appeal this court decision.
According to Google, the latter is “arbitrary, excessive and baseless”. The company has said it plans to defend itself “until the last resort because this judgment infringes freedom of expression and other fundamental principles“. As unusual as it is, this condemnation is not a first for Google. A few weeks ago, the firm received aa fine of 466,000 euros for hosting videos deemed defamatory of an Australian politician on YouTube.
Source: El Universal