The search engine operator “Google” is not obliged to independently delete links that refer to content that infringes personal rights.
The Higher Regional Court of Karlsruhe therefore dismissed the action brought by three affected plaintiffs (judgment of 14.12.2016 – 6 U 2/15).
Link to infringing internet platform
In 2012, posts were published on an internet platform in which the plaintiffs were named and insulted.
The insults were triggered by the fact that the plaintiffs had allegedly made Islamophobic comments – sometimes using a pseudonym.
The plaintiffs believe that their personal rights have been violated by these statements.
Google must remove link
The plaintiffs considered it pointless to take action against the operator of the internet platform abroad, especially as the platform had no legal notice.
The plaintiffs therefore turned directly against Google and demanded that the specifically named links no longer be displayed in the search results.
Google complied with this request.
However, the posts were subsequently moved within the internet platform and new links were generated, which reappeared in the search results.
The plaintiffs now demanded that Google cease all references to the main domain of the internet platform – irrespective of the search query.
No obligation for Google to check new links
In contrast to the lower court (Regional Court of Heidelberg, judgment of 09.12.2014 – 2 O 162/13), the Higher Regional Court of Karlsruhe has now dismissed the action in its entirety.
The search engine operator is not obliged to track down defamatory posts in internet forums and to refrain from linking to them.
An obligation to delete the link only exists if the search engine operator is made aware of a specific infringement of personality rights.
Injured party must notify Google of infringement
In the present case, Google has complied with this deletion obligation.
The appearance of new modified links does not change this.
It is the responsibility of the infringed party to inform the search engine operator of new recurring links that lead to infringing content.
Google, on the other hand, is not obliged to track down posts placed online by third parties and check for infringing content once infringing content has been reported.