The Guardian | Michael McGowan | @mmcgowan Mon 6 Jun 2022 05.17 BST

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Friendlyjordies: John Barilaro to be paid $715,000 by Google over YouTube videos

Tech giant and comedian Jordan Shanks may face contempt of court charges over videos published during trial

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Google has been ordered to pay former New South Wales deputy premier John Barilaro more than $700,000 over a series of “racist” and “abusive” videos published on YouTube channel Friendlyjordies.

On Monday, federal court justice Stephen Rares ruled that Barilaro had been left “traumatised” by a campaign of “relentless cyberbullying” by comedian Jordan Shanks, who uses the nom de plume Friendlyjordies

Rares ruled that Google had failed to adhere to its own policies by doing “nothing to prevent Mr Shanks’ hate speech, cyberbullying and harassment” of Barilaro.

The judge ordered Google to pay $715,000 in total, a figure which could rise if a costs order is made against the tech company.

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Former NSW deputy premier John Barilaro

John Barilaro tells court he felt ‘broken’ after Friendlyjordies videos appeared on YouTube.

Rares also said he would refer both the tech company and Shanks for possible contempt of court charges over what he called “improper pressure” placed on Barilaro during the case.

Barilaro sued Google, the owner of YouTube, and Shanks over videos titled “bruz” and “Secret Dictatorship” published by Friendlyjordies in 2020.

The now-retired MP settled his federal court case against Shanks in November 2021 when Shanks provided an apology and edited the videos.

However, Rares said in his judgement that the comedian continued to post on YouTube about Barilaro, including videos containing “slurs” that he had lied to the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption (Icac) and conducted an extramarital affair.

The videos also made what Rares called “allegations of professional impropriety” against Barilaro’s lawyers which had no “factual or intelligible basis”.

The videos, and Google’s decision to leave them online, amounted to what the judge called “improper pressure” on Barilaro during the case.

“The intimidatory purpose of the [video] hit its mark,” Rares found, pointing to evidence given by Barilaro during the trial that he had at one point instructed his lawyers to settle the case because “the hell continued”.

In a scathing judgement, Rares said Shanks had run a “relentless cyberbullying” campaign against Barilaro which “caused him to leave public office prematurely”.

He said the two videos at the centre of the defamation trial conveyed “very serious and false” claims about Barilaro, and received hundreds of thousands of views from which Google earned thousands of dollars.

Barilaro recieved “thousands of hateful, some quite disturbing social media posts [and] messages as a result of the videos, Rares found, including violent threats made against his daughter.

“Google was part and parcel of this disgusting behaviour because it facilitated, published and kept up on YouTube this and similar videos,” Rares said.

“The ability of social media entities to publish and enable the communication of such material without constraint is a matter that the parliament ought to be considering.”

After the judgment Barilaro, said he felt “vindicated”.

“This brings to a close a difficult time for me and I could not have gotten to this point without the support of my family, friends and colleagues,” Barilaro said.

“I am also thankful to my lawyers, Sue Chrysanthou SC and Paul Svilans from Mark O’Brien Legal, who endured immense pressure and exercised their remarkable skills to achieve this victory.

“All I wanted at the outset was for Google to remove these videos and they refused. It is no small undertaking for an individual to take on a company like Google but it was important that I did so.

“The court’s detailed and considered reasons demonstrate why a person’s right to protect their reputation is fundamental to a thriving democracy. This decision is a wonderful end to a decade of public service.”

During the hearing Barilaro recalled telling his staff he was contemplating self-harm after receiving significant online abuse.

“I was in a dark place,” Barilaro told the court.

“The pile on, pile on, pile on, pile on. It’s hard to admit to your friends how you’re feeling [but] I did say those things and I’ve thought about those things often.

“When you’re away from your family in your apartment in Sydney, up late at night deleting abusive comments [online], I tell you what, you start looking at the balcony for a way out.”

Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning Barilaro told the court that statements in the Friendlyjordies videos including repeated use of the words “wog”, “greasy” and “slimeball” made him feel as if he was at school where he said he suffered racist abuse because of his Italian heritage.

“I grew up with the word ‘wog’ and ‘dago’,” he said.

“I used to go to school in primary school and would start the day in a punch-up because I was called a ‘wog’.

“Anyone who wants to use the word ‘wog’ and think it doesn’t offend, well ‘wog’ was not used as a term of an endearment, I grew up with that.”

  • Thinker@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I don’t think we should abide hate speech in any format for any reason.

    That said, it’s concerning that the Australian courts were able to get recompense for Barilaro, yet Barilaro’s very real corruption and straight up evil that Friendlyjordies was trying to call attention to has gone completely unaddressed.

    • hoshikarakitaridia@sh.itjust.works
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      1 year ago

      This sets a dangerous precedent that journalistic pieces could be deemed reputable harm and therefore in any case illegal. Just imagine someone wrote an article about Hitler in his youth calling him out for racist behaviour and they would get a verdict against the journalist, notwithstanding the fact that there’s merit in the criticism.

      Of course there is a difference when it comes to unwarranted slander without any evidentiary basis. That’s something more akin to Depp v Heard.

      I don’t like this at all.

      • IIIIII@sh.itjust.works
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        1 year ago

        If you watch Jordies videos on him they were mainly about his corruption and incompetence but the dudes a comedian and a content creator also so he makes some jokes about him.

  • MxM111@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    Regardless if the former PM is piece of shit or not, mocking a well known, public, political figure should be protected speech.

  • timtoon@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    Jordies was indicting Barilaro for rampant corruption and environmental destruction. Barilaro wanted to make it about his being offended:

    JORDAN: Yes it was basically just a straw man, who cares? Dude, even if I am the boogeyman they are painting me as, does that really matter when [Barilaro] sold out the most iconic national park in this country for $10,000, completely destroying it? 27 native species that don’t need to go extinct, he’s allowing them to go extinct because he has $10,000.

    https://happymag.tv/friendlyjordies-calls-out-deputy-premier-john-barilaro-for-alleged-corruption/

    • Deceptichum@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      Jordies also had his house firebombed after exposing Barilaro.

      Barilo is a corrupt thug. So it makes sense the courts sided with him.

      • hoshikarakitaridia@sh.itjust.works
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        1 year ago

        I think he said that was probably criminal affiliates of the casinos he exposed for money laundering.

        Not saying Barilaro is not corrupt ofc, his videos are controversial but his claims are based in factual research.

        • st0v@lemmy.zip
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          1 year ago

          I didnt like friendlyjordies brand of humor. not one bit.

          when he started going after that dog removed broz I couldn’t help myself. I had to watch.

          by now I love him, he’s become a hero of what free speech (such that it) is in Australia. served with a massive dose of sarcasm and ridicule.

          I’ll keeping giving him money and watching his shit while he keeps going there and calling out all the bullshit that goes on in australian government.

        • Ann Archy@lemmy.worldOP
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          1 year ago

          Then again, Barilaro went straight to those exact people looking for a job after he was done sucking money out of society.

      • Clbull@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Also after exposing casinos in NSW. Barilaro may not actually be the culprit.

        Jordan needs to seek asylum in the US for his own safety…

  • fiat_lux@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    Title contains misinformation.

    former New South Wales deputy premier John Barilaro

    This is like calling Eleni Kounalakis, who is the Lieutenant Governor of California, “the President of the US”.

    • Ann Archy@lemmy.worldOP
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      1 year ago

      My bad, I’m still trying to get the hang of Australian politics, and I’m a posting noob. Changed the title.

  • bfg9k@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Fuck you bruz.

    You’ve single-handedly harpooned free speech in Australia.

  • BrianTheeBiscuiteer@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    If Google was refusing to moderate the content in violation of it’s own ToS then I totally agree with the decision. Statements like this really scare me:

    The court’s detailed and considered reasons demonstrate why a person’s right to protect their reputation is fundamental to a thriving democracy.

    Having the equal ability to reply and refute someone else’s statements is exercising your right to protect your reputation.

    • ElleChaise@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      Now we’re starting to delve into the differences between a society that sincerely cares about seeking justice, vs one that simply enjoys seeing people punished.

  • JoJoGAH@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Wow, I’d never heard of this . Just now playing the video. This is indeed a terrifying decision to protect a very corrupt man, and a system that allowed him to do these things.

  • Ixoid@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    I thought we’d seen the last of this turd when he resigned in disgrace. Now he puts on some crocodile tears and gets given a golden handout? Say what you like about Shanks’ style and delivery, he always researched his stories and brought receipts. Barilaro is scum.

  • FrostbyteIX@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Aw Bruz, the amount of damage you did to NSW is far more than Jordies fucking in your guest houses…more than the building you and your fam swiped from the Italian Community, more than the all the money in the world…

    …putting on a “woe is me” victimizing regime to the courts isn’t doing you any favours…it just adds more fuel to the fires like Jordies housebombing. Or the Black Saturday Bushfires that rought havok across the world…

  • Shotgun_Alice@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Is this the same guy who tried killing the YouTuber? I don’t know if it was this one or another Australian YouTuber I’m thinking of.

    • IGuessThisIsForNSFW@yiffit.net
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      FrendlyJordies house was firebombed. Weather it was an attempted murder or just a message I’m not really sure but it’s definitely horrible!

    • hoshikarakitaridia@sh.itjust.works
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      In your definition probably just being mean. Every ill claim was part of a joke in the form of sarcasm or exaggeration and every claim he presented neutrally was presented on the basis of researched facts. I really don’t think there’s any basis there iirc.

  • jimbolauski@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    To all the people that say hate speach should be banned, this is the inevitable outcome. Hate speech laws will be used by our morally bankrupt politicians to persecute opposition and protect and enrich themselves.