Google Image Results Lead to Defamation Lawsuit by Australian Man

Google is currently being sued by a man in Australia because his photo is shown alongside criminals when his name is searched. The man in question is Milorad "Michael" Trkulja, who got caught up in a gang-related shootout. As a result, he was shot in the back and the gunman has yet to be identified. After securing a ruling from Australia’s High Court, Trkulja is now free to sue Google.

The case was supposed to have been decided back in 2012, when Trkulja won a defamation case against Google in the Victorian Supreme Court, Business Insider reports. This was after his images showed up alongside known criminals such as Tony Mokbel, who is a known drug trafficker. This has been the case for more than a decade.

Four years ago, the decision was overturned in the Victorian Court of Appeal after Google decided to fight it. The case has since been moved up to the High Court, which ruled in favor of Trkulja. The search engine giant is even being told to pay for the legal costs of the plaintiff.

As for what basis Trkulja even has for suing Google, he is claiming that showing his photo alongside criminals is damaging his reputation. The tech giant argued that this was “irrational,” but Chief Justice Susan Keifel didn’t see it that way. She concluded that it was perfectly “rational” for Trkulja to be worried about the repercussions of the search results.

If someone were to look up known criminals and his face should pop-up, users might conclude that Trkulja was himself a criminal instead of a victim. It’s not just the Google Image results that he takes issue with either.

Apparently, Google’s Autocomplete feature also results in phrases such as "is a former hit man" or ''criminal" being added when typing his name, CBS News reports. More than the images, this could be more damaging to his reputation.