The censorship is strong in the land down under. Google has just been ordered to pay punitive damages to an Australian politician who left politics after a series of videos from a YouTube creator allegedly damaged his credibility. It’s a ruling that is certain to reverberate throughout the YouTube community and could impact the streaming site’s Terms of Service. Visit Site
An Australian Federal Court ordered YouTube’s parent company to pay the former legislator John Barilaro $515,000 after finding the videos related to a “relentless, racist, vilification, abusive and defamatory campaign” that injured Barilaro’s professional career.
At the time, Barilaro was the deputy premier of New South Wales, the most populous state in the country.
Jordan Shanks, the political analyst who went by the username friendlyjordies, published the two videos entitled “Bruz” and “Secret Dictatorship” in 2020. He called the political leader corrupt and questioned his stability.
“The videos included claims that Mr. Barilaro was a corrupt conman who should be jailed, who committed perjury nine times and engaged in blackmail,” reports The Daily Mail. “Google initially defended the case but later withdrew all defenses and conceded the widely-viewed videos defamed Mr. Barilaro.”
In Youtube videos Shanks called Barilaro a “greasy little scrotum” and “meatball” and suggested he was connected to the Italian mafia.
“I found Google’s conduct in this proceeding to be improper and unjustifiable,” Judge Steve Rares told the court. He noted that Google, part of technology conglomerate Aphabet Inc., profited off of the videos.
The judge said Barilaro “was traumatized by Google’s and Mr. Shanks’ campaign and … it caused him to leave public office prematurely.”
He also stated that Shank’s declarations and language were “nothing less than hate speech.”
“Although Mr. Shanks styles himself as a comedian, his repeated use of such terms was not comedic,” Rares said in his address.
As part of his judgment, Rares stated Google did not follow its own policies concerning cyberbullying, hate speech, and harassment. He stated Youtube did not explain why the “many racist attacks” were permitted to remain on the video platform even though it had actually received main complaints from Barilaro’s personnel at the end of 2020.
Barilaro gave up politics in October of 2021. He and Shanks reached a settlement in 2021. Shanks provided an apology in November and edited the two videos. He likewise agreed to pay $100,000 in court costs.
Shanks was likewise forbidden from selling a tee shirt with Barilaro as a scrotum.
Outside of the courtroom, Barilaro stated he was happy with the ruling which all he was looking for was an apology.
“It’s all I ever wanted from the outset,” he said, per ABC News. “It’s why we settled with Jordan Shanks. He was prepared to apologize. It was never about money. It was about an apology, removal.”
