Technology conglomerate Alphabet Inc.’s (NASDAQ: GOOGL) search engine giant Google has been granted relief from the high court of Australia in a lawsuit. The case relates to the company’s liability for defamatory content that can be accessed via a hyperlink in its search results.
The High Court of Australia Dismisses the Case Against Google
The High Court of Australia’s verdict came against the backdrop of a case filed by lawyer George Defteros. Defteros alleged that a Google search of his name pulled up a link and a snippet of a newspaper article that was defamatory. Although lower courts ordered Google to pay damages to the tune of 40,000 Australian dollars to Defteros, the High Court ruled that Google was not a publisher of the defamatory content and therefore was not liable for the same.
Notably, the case comes as a relief to the tech giant amid countless regulatory headwinds for the company Down-Under. For instance, in June, the company was directed by a Federal Court in Australia to pay 715,000 Australian dollars to John Barilaro for defamatory videos posted on its YouTube platform against the senior politician.
Website Traffic Trends Are Encouraging
Google’s website traffic growth is seeing no signs of slowing down even amid regulatory concerns.
TipRanks’ Website Traffic Tool, which uses data from SEMrush Holdings (SEMR), the world’s biggest website usage monitoring service, offers insight into Google’s performance this quarter.
Meanwhile, the AppLovin website recorded a 28.68% monthly rise in global visits in July, compared to June. Also, year-to-date, the Google website traffic increased by 11.91%, compared to the previous year.
Learn how Website Traffic can help you research your favorite stocks.
Is Google a Strong Buy?
Overall, the consensus among analysts for Google stock is a Strong Buy based on 30 Buys and two Holds. The GOOGL average price target of $142.63 implies an upside potential of 19.3% from current levels. Shares have declined 11.7% over the past year.
Key Takeaways
Australia has been a tough regulatory environment for all tech giants, including Google. However, the latest court verdict comes in as a positive, as the company is now no longer liable for the content of its search results.
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