A BRISBANE businessman who claims his reputation was sullied online by a former colleague has become the first person in Queensland to sue internet giant Google for defamation.
Jarrod Sierocki, 31, will seek damages of $2.6 million and a court order that Google remove search results that link his name to a string of character attacks on him in internet forums.
His is one of a growing number of legal attempts worldwide to hold the most popular web search engine to account for what it highlights for readers.
It comes months after a landmark libel suit in Victoria saw Google ordered to pay $200,000 damages over search results that linked a Melbourne businessman to a notorious drug lord.
Mr Sierocki wrote to Google five times to complain about online slurs that harmed his professional standing and cost his business Insolvency Guardian income, he claims in documents lodged in the Brisbane Supreme Court.