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A federal court has ordered Google to pay $715,000 to former New South Wales deputy premier John Barilaro following a series of “racist” and “abusive” videos posted on the YouTube channel Friendlyjordies.
Federal Court Justice Stephen Rares found that comedian Jordan Shanks, the creator behind Friendlyjordies, had left Barilaro “traumatised” by a campaign of “relentless cyberbullying.”
Rares said Google had violated its own regulations by doing “little to prevent Shanks’ hate speech, cyberbullying, and harassment” of Barilaro.
Barilaro sued the internet giant, which owns YouTube, and Shanks last year over videos titled “bruz” and “Secret Dictatorship” published on the Friendlyjordies channel.
With 626,000 subscribers, Friendlyjordies continues to publish content on YouTube to this date.
Barilaro said he intended to leave politics in 2023 but had to resign in October 2021 after feeling ‘broken’ and being accosted by people wearing bruz shirts during a by-election.
In the videos, Shanks claimed that Barilaro was a corrupt conman who should be jailed for committing perjury nine times and engaging in blackmail and referred to Barilaro as a “wog,” “greasy,” “greasy little scrotum,” “meatball,” and other derogatory terms, as well as innuendos linking him to the Italian mafia.
Shanks also engaged in cyberbullying to frighten Barilaro from going to court and his lawyers from representing him.
The comedian said Barilaro and his attorneys should have watched a video he published about Clive Palmer called “bruz forever,” claiming that the video would have given them a peek of what threatening to sue Shanks would look like.
Google first contested the lawsuit but later dropped all claims, admitting that the widely viewed videos had indeed defamed the former NSW Nationals leader.
Rares said, “Google was part and parcel of this disgusting behaviour because it facilitated, published, and kept up on YouTube this and similar videos.”
Barilaro reached a settlement with Shanks in November 2021 when Shanks provided an apology and edited the videos.
Rares, however, noted that Shanks continued to upload videos regarding Barilaro, including “slurs” that he had lied to the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) and had an extramarital affair.
The videos included “allegations of professional impropriety” against Barilaro’s lawyers, which had no “factual or intelligible basis,” according to Rares.
Rares said Google did nothing to prohibit the conduct on its YouTube platform, which was improper and unjustifiable.
“That conduct aggravated the damage to Barilaro’s reputation and the hurt to his feelings very considerably,” he said.
“In my opinion, it is necessary to award a substantial sum in damages to compensate Barilaro for the harm that Google caused to him and to vindicate his reputation.”
Rares has referred the conduct of Shanks and Google to the court’s principal registrar to consider proceedings against each for “what appear to be serious contempts of court by bringing improper pressure to bear on Barilaro and his lawyers not to pursue this proceeding.”
The judge will also decide on the appropriate costs order for the parties.
Meanwhile, Barilaro told reporters outside court that he felt “vindicated” but that all he wanted from Google was an apology and the videos removed.
“All I wanted at the outset was for Google to remove these videos, and they refused. It is no small undertaking for an individual to take on a company like Google, but it was important that I did so,” he said.
“The court’s detailed and considered reasons demonstrate why a person’s right to protect their reputation is fundamental to a thriving democracy. This decision is a wonderful end to a decade of public service.”
With AAP.
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Jaw de Guzman is the content producer for Comms Room, a knowledge platform and website aimed at assisting the communications industry and its professionals.
