EU Court Rules Google LLC Liable for Partner Videos

The Court of Justice of the European Union ruled Thursday that Google LLC may be held liable for YouTube videos uploaded by content creators with whom the company maintains commercial partnerships. This judgment upholds a €750,000 fine imposed four years ago by Italy's communication authority concerning the promotion of online gambling on the platform.

Google LLC had challenged the 2022 fine from an Italian administrative court, arguing that European Union e-commerce and telecoms regulations shielded the company from liability for third-party content. The court rejected this argument, determining that liability exemptions do not apply when an operator reviews a channel's theme, metadata, and most-viewed videos specifically to establish a commercial partnership.

Following this ruling, the Italian court will now proceed to rule on the merits of the case.