An Australian court has ordered Google to pay $715,000 in damages to former NSW Deputy Premier John Barilaro for hosting ‘racist’ and ‘abusive’ videos posted by YouTuber Jordan Shanks who poked fun at the former MP’s Italian heritage.

The ruling was released on Monday and found that Google failed to enforce its own policies in allowing Shanks, whose YouTube account Friendlyjordies has more than 625,000 subscribers and is expected to earn up to $20,300 in revenue per month—for leading a “relentless, racist, defamatory, abusive and defamatory campaign” in Barilaro for more than a year.

In the judgment, which was handed down by Federal Court Judge Stephen Rares, it was found that Google had done nothing to enforce the YouTube Community Guidelines and allowed content containing hate speech to remain in live on its platforms, despite Barilaro’s best efforts to have them removed. .

The result comes after Barilaro decided to sue Google and Shanks for defamation over two videos, “bruz” and “Secret Dictatorship”, which were posted on Friendlyjordies in 2020. Barilaro settled his case with Shanks at the end of the last year, after the YouTuber apologized and edited both videos.

But Rares said Google could have done more to limit the impact of the videos, which saw Shanks call Barilaro a ‘wog’, ‘fatty’ and a ‘fatty little scrotum’, before mocking his ‘migrant success’. and comparing the former MP to a “Greasy Ned Kelly”, as well as claiming that Barilaro had lied to the NSW corruption watchdog and cheated on his wife.

“Google can’t hide behind the use of its California headquarters or the American understanding of the English language as being the same as in Australia,” Rares said.

“He operates a very large business in Australia, has Australian staff and lawyers and couldn’t suggest he was somehow unaware of how hurtful and intimidating the ‘bruz’ video was in its use of slurs and speeches of venomous hatred which Mr. Shanks openly directed. , deliberately against Mr. Barilaro, for criticizing Mr. Shanks’ past racist behavior.

In its judgment, Rares went on to say that the two videos in question had left Barilaro “traumatized”, and that there was no way for Google to assert that the publication of either was in the public interest.

A quick Google search, Rares suggested, would have revealed that Shanks’ claims were “gross misrepresentations” that distorted the facts laid out in a number of excerpts from documents and news articles displayed on screen throughout. throughout his videos.

Rares said Barilaro found himself at the center of a vitriolic hate campaign as a result, and was left with “thousands of hateful posts, some quite disturbing on social media [and] messages following the videos,” including the threats made against his daughter.

“Google was integral to this disgusting behavior as it facilitated, posted and maintained this and similar videos on YouTube,” Rares said.

“The ability of social media entities to publish and allow the release of such materials without constraint is a matter that parliament should consider.”

Even as the case was taken to court, the violent messages continued to pour in, Rare found, after evidence provided by Barilaro suggested he asked his lawyers to settle his case with Shanks because ” hell continued”.

As a result, Rare suggested Shanks and Google could end up facing contempt of court charges for exerting “inappropriate pressure” on Barilaro throughout the case.

Barilaro, who at the hearing testified that he told his staff that the case caused him to consider suicide, said he was vindicated by Rare’s judgment.

“It ends a difficult period for me and I couldn’t have come to this without the support of my family, friends and colleagues,” Barilaro said.

“All I wanted initially was for Google to remove these videos and they refused. It’s no small feat for an individual to take on a company like Google, but it was important that I did. »

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