A French Court Fined A Blogger For His Negative Review Ranking Too Well In Google

Jul 22, 2014 • 8:31 am | comments (8) by | Filed Under Legal Issues in Search
 

Google FranceThis is news from last week, but it still makes me shiver. Via the BBC French blogger fined over review's Google search placing.

Yes, a blogger wrote a negative review about a restaurant and a French judge ordered that the post's title be amended and told the blogger Caroline Doudet to pay damages.

The judge ordered that the post's title be amended and told the blogger Caroline Doudet to pay damages.

Ms Doudet said the decision made it a crime to be highly ranked on search engines.

The restaurant owners said the article's prominence was unfairly hurting their business.

Ms Doudet was sued by the owner of Il Giardino restaurant in the Aquitaine region of southwestern France after she wrote a blogpost entitled "the place to avoid in Cap-Ferret: Il Giardino".

According to court documents, the review appeared fourth in the results of a Google search for the restaurant. The judge decided that the blog's title should be changed, so that the phrase: "the place to avoid" was less prominent in the results.

Well, maybe it back fired because a search for [Is Il Giardino in Cap-Ferret the worst restaurant in France?] = Is Il Giardino in Cap-Ferret the worst restaurant in France? is plastered with news articles now.

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