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ARTICLE · 09 JANUARY 2023

Claim Against Google For Hosting Defamatory Reviews Allowed To Proceed

Gardiner Roberts LLP
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Online search engines such as Google allow businesses to market their services to a wide customer base.

CanadaLitigation, Mediation & Arbitration
James R.G. Cook
James R.G. Cook
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Online search engines such as Google allow businesses to market their services to a wide customer base. Businesses may also be subject to online reviews which are readily accessible to the same potential customer base. The ease with which online reviews may be posted can be problematic for a business if the reviews are false, misleading, or otherwise defamatory. While the reviewers may be subject to legal proceedings for defamatory reviews, Canadian law has generally shielded online platforms from liability for the content of third-party reviews. A summary judgment decision in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice shows that a shift may occur to hold online hosts liable.

In Thorpe v. Boakye, 2022 ONSC 7176 (CanLII), the plaintiffs owned a daycare in Brampton, Ontario. A former customer of the daycare posted reviews of the daycare, along with her husband and another person who was either a friend or a fictitious person created by them, neither of whom were ever

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