Google Is Ordered to Block Images in Privacy Case

A French court ruled that Google must remove from its Internet search results all images of a former Formula One car racing chief at an orgy. The ruling in the privacy case could have ramifications for the tech giant’s operations across Europe.

Max Mosley, the former president of the International Automobile Federation, had filed the lawsuit in September 2013 to force Google to automatically filter from its search engine links to images from a British newspaper report in 2008 that included photos and a video of Mosley participating in a sadomasochistic sex party. The Tribunal de Grande Instance in Paris backed Mosley’s attempts to force Google to block references to the images from appearing in Google’s search results worldwide. The company said it would appeal the decision. Mosley argued that French law makes it illegal to take and distribute images of an individual in a private space without that person’s permission. But Google said that would limit freedom of speech, forcing the company to block search results without any person or court overseeing the context in which the images appeared.