Google Censored By French Government: Orgy Pics Must Go

Max Mosley In 1969/Image via Wikimedia CC

Google Inc. is under fire for its search results in regards to images. A French court made a ruling on Wednesday that orders the company to remove 9 graphic images of Formula One chief Max Mosely actively participating in an orgy.

According to Daphne Keller, Google’s associate general counsel, the court’s decision is nothing more than censorship. She says that the court is asking Google to build a “censorship machine”, which the company is not prepared to do. She notes that Google will be appealing the decision.

Previous Reports

Back in 2008 the News of The World tabloid, that was owned by News Corp and based in London, issued a report claiming that Mosely had employed prostitutes for a pleasure session. The tabloid also placed a video on its website claiming to have caught Mosely on tape during the ordeal. News of The World is now defunct, following a phone hacking scandal.

Max Mosely did eventually confess that he had been involved with the prostitutes, but he has opened several lawsuits in various countries against the paper. He claims the reporters stripped him of any privacy and published his personal life for the world to see.

Ghosts Of The Past

Images of this orgy can still be found on the web, although Google has already created a filter that removes unlawful content, including that of Mosely. It seems these images will haunt him for at least a little while longer. However, the search giant claims that it may not be able to build a filter that removes only images of Mosely without also screening out some content that is perfectly legal.

The court ruling only specifies that 9 images must come down. There is no decision regarding any remaining photos, if there are any. The court has said that the ruling must be kept narrow, in order to prevent other images from being wrongfully removed. However, Google claims that the order is still too broad.

Keller said, “This is a troubling ruling with serious consequences for free expression, and we will appeal it.”