Shooting the messenger, eh?

Can you sue a search engine? That’s the question on everyone’s mind ever since Delhi-based business bigwig and filmmaker Arindam Chaudhuri filed a lawsuit of 50 crore against Google and three other publications.

By:HINDUSTAN TIMES
| Updated on: Aug 12 2011, 11:29 IST

Can you sue a search engine? That's the question on everyone's mind ever since Delhi-based business bigwig and filmmaker Arindam Chaudhuri filed a lawsuit of 50 crore against Google and three other publications. According to Chaudhuri, Google has been 'publishing, distributing... the defamatory libelous and slanderous articles." It's not just him, in May, UK footballer Ryan Giggs sued Twitter to stop reports of his alleged affair from appearing in public.

The incident has sparked off an online debate, with some calling the move "ignorant" or "downright silly". Even cyber lawyers are not clear where the accountability of a search engine lies. "A search engine is not entirely to be blamed and it is difficult for them to monitor their content because of their huge date base," says Karnika Seth, Delhi-based cyber law expert. "You can technically sue the website, but it's very silly to do so, because it's just a content aggregator and not the publisher," says Rodney Ryder, cyber crime lawyer.

You may be interested in

MobilesTablets Laptops
7% OFF
Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max
  • Black Titanium
  • 8 GB RAM
  • 256 GB Storage
28% OFF
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra 5G
  • Green
  • 12 GB RAM
  • 256 GB Storage
Google Pixel 8 Pro
  • Obsidian
  • 12 GB RAM
  • 128 GB Storage
Apple iPhone 15 Plus
  • Black
  • 6 GB RAM
  • 128 GB Storage

The debate continues in Bollywood among actors who often encounter malicious gossip, morphed pictures and videos of themselves on the search engine. Actor Gul Panag points out that a search engine cannot be held accountable for the content out there. "A search engine is an information open source. It shows up what exists. It doesn't create offensive or flattering material. It only collates it," she says.

Some actors demand accountability from the website. "If I type my name, there are all sort of search names and tags that come up. Google should probably become like imdb and verify all our details through us," says actor Koena Mitra. Actor Eesha Koppikhar says, "Google should have a censor mechanism that scrutinises content before it is put up."

Also read
Looking for a smartphone? To check mobile finder click here.

However, Google maintains that they cannot be held responsible. "Search engines are a reflection of the content and information that is available on the Internet. We are disappointed that search engines that use computer algorithms to create automated indexes of the world wide web are sought to be held liable for content that is indexed as search results," says a Google spokesperson.

Catch all the Latest Tech News, Mobile News, Laptop News, Gaming news, Wearables News , How To News, also keep up with us on Whatsapp channel,Twitter, Facebook, Google News, and Instagram. For our latest videos, subscribe to our YouTube channel.

First Published Date: 23 Jun, 19:27 IST
NEXT ARTICLE BEGINS