Germany

May 2013

A Federal Court Judge in Germany  ordered Google to adhere to requests to remove autocomplete entries from its Google search bar in Germany if they are defamatory.

The complainant, a corporate, whose name remains confidential, claimed that whenever someone carries out a Google search for its name,  Google automatically prompts other searches that involves suggesting that the company was involved, among other things, in fraud.

Google replied by claiming that the  autosuggestion functionality merely brings to attention the most popular searches its users carry out.

Related Article:

• Autocomplete Truths about Gender Inequality (neatorama.com)

In April 2013 a mother in Brazil won a battle to have her deceased daughter’s Facebook page removed. The continuing messages and memories posted by her daughter’s friends had caused her huge distress so she pleaded Facebook to terminate the account.

On The Judge at Mato Grosso do Sul state court ordered Facebook to close down the account or face imprisonment.

Related Articles:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-22286569

Is Facebook as customer friendly as it makes out? (internetlawexpert.co.uk)

12 July 2013

Twitter has been ordered to reveal, to French Police, the identity of bigots who posted anti-Semitic and racist abuse.

Twitter argued that it should only be subject to US and was intending to defend the anonymity of users.

Prosecutors in Paris argue that the Twitter had a duty to expose those who post abuse and that this duty prevailed over a right to anonymity.

In April 2013 Google was ordered by a Japanese Court to change its autocomplete feature and ordered to pay 30,000 yen in damages to a Japanese man. Google’s autocomplete feature was linking the man to a series of crimes he did not commit when his name was typed in on the search engine.

Last year Tokyo District Court issued an injunction backing the Claimant which Google failed to honour.

The Claimant said that he had lost his job because of Google displaying search results that suggested that he was a notorious criminal.

This is the first reported case where Google is ordered by a Japanese court to change its search terms. To read the full article go to http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57579765-93/google-loses-autocomplete-defamation-suit-in-japan/