2026 February 11

A.B. v. Google, 2026 QCCA 157

The Quebec Court of Appeal varied a Superior Court trial judgment for defamation damages against Google LLC made on May 10, 2023 by reducing the plaintiff’s general damages award to $25,000 from $500,000 but adding $1.5 million punitive damages to the amount payable by Google.

The case arose from the refusal of Google LLC, since December 21, 2015, to de-index a URL link which allowed access to an Internet post which made horrific, false allegations against the plaintiff A.B., whose identity was protected in this litigation by an anonymity order.  The Court of Appeal noted this was a case of first impression and raised the issue of the liability of an intermediary whose search engine indexed a link leading to unquestionably false and defamatory information.  The Court of Appeal held Google was liable although it maintained the indexing of the URL link as a “bare link” and did not title the link or generate a “snippet”, and although the plaintiff’s name and certain specific words had to be inserted in a Google search query to access the defamatory content.  The Court of Appeal stated that Google publicly presents itself as a provider of reliable sources of information, but had refused to de-index the post which was indisputably false and defamatory.  The Court of Appeal stated at paragraph 117:

English translation of judgment in French

[117] As for the properly punitive aspect, Google’s fault, but especially its steadfastness, even stubbornness, in maintaining its position in the face of a serious and persistent interference seem to me to be an aggravating factor. The effectiveness of Google’s technology is proportional to its dangerousness and to the accountability that it demands. For these reasons, I am of the view that the sum of $1,500,000 in punitive damages is reasonable.