Link to the court ruling from the article (in German): https://the-decoder.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/26_O_869_26_begl_Abschrift_Urteil_v_28_05_2026_Geschwarzt_Geschwarzt_Geschwarzt.pdf
Found the article on HN. The article itself is meh, but I couldn’t find any other site reporting on it.
Here’s hoping it becomes a case cited in the whole EU.
Here is a second (better) source:
Nice. Now, Google will probably just disable AI overview in germany cause they know they can’t make it not spew made up crap. The hope’s on more countries following suit on this.
Don’t care about Google Search as I haven’t used that in 1-2 years, but I assume this will also apply to any other search engine.
Fingers crossed
Nice ;). Does that mean, I can sue them when I see a wrong answer?
In Germany, yes
And according to German law, only if you had actual damages from it.
And you don’t get a payout that’ll make you rich, you’ll just get awarded a financial amount that covers those damages.
(After winning in court against Google’s lawyers, of course)
Correct and common sense ruling. The tech broligarchs can’t buy the judiciary in other countries like they do here in the US.
Wow that makes so much sense it’s crazy.
As it should. If Google is factually responsible for the resulting slop and should be legally responsible for it.
I should do a bunch of google searches about myself and see if I can get its AI to say anything defamatory about me…
…in Germany.
Also see if it can give you incorrect medical advice, which is probably easier.
:)
Tja.
Kann man doch was machen!
“because it alone has influence over the AI’s offering and the algorithms with which the AI operates.”
Okay so anything someone generates with the AI is owned by the company?
It’s like speeding with a stolen car.
You are responsible for the speeding fine, but it does not mean the car is yours.
Well, I’m afraid that, unfortunately, this ruling will ultimately never be enforced, as it would make it impossible for the powerful multibillion-dollar corporations to operate this business.
Another example of just how influential these corporations are is the fact that the most profitable piracy operation in history is even possible. Gigantic corporations of major influence have already filed multiple lawsuits over blatant intellectual property theft—yet even these players clearly stood no chance against the concentrated capital that is preventing the AI bubble from bursting immediately.
Therefore: It is the right decision, but it will almost certainly remain without consequence.
Nah, it’s like how they fined them hundreds of millions of euros because it was 2 clicks on YouTube to block cookies (the law required 1 click).
The result was that EU visitors to YouTube got 1 click “deny all” button for cookies. Else they’d be fined over-and-over.
The same will happen here. Google will remove AI summaries in Germany. And the German people will be less stupid because of it.
Hopefully this spreads to the whole EU, and then other progressive countries too
I don’t think this can be handled as easily as with cookies or third-party connections that require consent, because Google apparently plans to eventually replace the traditional search engine results pages (SERPs) entirely with an AI chat interface.
In that case, they would have to offer a completely different product just for Germany, or leave this market altogether. Neither option is likely to be viable for Google.
Setting up the AI chat so that it doesn’t provide dangerous answers is, in my opinion, also out of the question, since this can never be guaranteed due to the way LLMs work.
If they did that, then they’ll be fined constantly.
The point is that they shouldn’t be doing that. We, as a international community, need to make that illegal.
And this is the first stone for that.
Yes, absolutely. I completely agree with you, but unfortunately, for the reasons mentioned, I still think it’s unlikely that this welcome ruling will have any real impact.
Please don’t get me wrong. I’m just being realistic. This is by no means an argument against holding the tech giants accountable—we absolutely should!
