Italian court rules Google liable for autocomplete defamation
A Milan court found Google guilty of libel after its autocomplete function linked an unnamed businessman's name with the terms 'conman' and 'fraud'. The entrepreneur, who provides educational services in personal finance, complained that these suggestions damaged his public image. Google argued it was not responsible for the algorithmically generated terms, but the court ordered the removal of the offending suggestions. The company expressed disappointment, stating that autocomplete predictions are based on previous users' searches.
- Date it happened
- 2011-04-07
- Organisation involved
- Product, system or model
- Google Autocomplete
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