Mr Defteros successfully sued Google in 2020 for $40,000 after it refused to take down a hyperlink to a newspaper article he said was defamatory.

The article was about how Mr Defteros was charged in 2004 with conspiracy and incitement to murder underworld figures, including Carl Williams.

But those charges were dropped in 2005.

A previous ruling in the Supreme Court of Victoria in 2020, found the internet giant was a publisher and had defamed Mr Defteros.

But Google took the case to the High Court, arguing that it was only a navigator and was not a publisher of content, likening itself to a telephone company that simply facilitated calls.

"A hyperlink only communicates that something exists or where it exists," Google's submissions said.

"It is the operator of the webpage who communicates the content to the user."

But lawyers for Mr Defteros said Google was an active participant.

"The Google search engine is not a passive tool, such as the facility provided by a telephone company," submissions from Mr Defteros argued.

Google also argued that it had a common-law qualified privilege defence.

But in their submissions, lawyers for Mr Defteros told the High Court that qualified privilege only applied if the person searching had a legitimate interest in the information beyond gossip or curiosity.

His lawyers said that the common law rules about publication were clear, and there should be no special rule for providers of hyperlinks.

"Publication including to users without a legitimate interest is not privileged," the submissions said.

Original Story By | Elizabeth Byrne