Google

A judge has ordered that Google pay $715,000 to former deputy premier of NSW John Barilaro over a “relentless, racist, vilificatory, abusive and defamatory campaign” by YouTube commentator Jordan Shanks that the tech giant “did nothing” to stop.

Google has fought off a legal challenge to a decision rejecting a South Australian doctor’s bid to access search data and internal company documents in her second defamation claim against the tech giant over alleged defamatory material in search results.

A judge has held off selecting from a “basket of imponderables” in determining how he will hear two competition lawsuits by Epic Games against Apple and Google over the removal of the popular multiplayer game Fortnite from the tech giants’ online stores.

Epic Games has argued in favour of steaming ahead with a trial in its competition case against Apple while its parallel case against Google remains in the embryonic stage, but the tech giants say Google’s litigation should catch up in the hopes that the court can hear a joint trial or hold contemporaneous hearings.

Counsel for John Barilaro on Tuesday detailed the online abuse his lawyers faced in acting in a defamation suit over videos posted by commentator Jordan Shanks, as the court heard YouTube owner Google has abandoned its last line of defence in the case.

Former deputy premier of NSW John Barilaro considered “harming himself” after videos were posted by YouTuber Jordan Shanks as part of a “vile and particularly racist smear campaign” facilitated by Google, a court has heard.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is considering whether new laws are needed to rein in Google, Apple and Facebook, including rules to curb self-preferencing conduct and strengthen the merger review framework.

Google has failed in its bid to stay a competition lawsuit brought by Epic Games, after failing to show that the Fortnite game maker would not be disadvantaged if the case were heard in California instead.

Google has argued there would be a “devastating” effect on the internet if the High Court upholds a judgment awarded to gangland lawyer George Defteros that found the tech giant liable for linking to an allegedly defamatory article.

The High Court has granted Google special leave to challenge a $40,000 defamation judgment awarded to gangland lawyer George Defteros, with the search giant arguing it should not be held liable for a “mere hyperlink” to an article.