Brazilian court fines Google, Facebook for graphic photos

  • 09/07/2015
(Photo: iStock)
(Photo: iStock)

Brazilian judges have fined Facebook and Google for failing to remove gruesome photos and videos showing the body of a popular singer killed in a car crash.

The fines imposed by a court in Goiana, capital of the central Goias state, are the latest blow in an ongoing tussle over Facebook and Google's policies regarding privacy and publication of offensive material.

Cristiano Araujo, 29, was killed alongside his girlfriend in a car crash in Goias on June 24.

Shortly after, photos and amateur video emerged on the internet of his body at the crash site and - in shocking detail - at the morgue.

On Tuesday, Judge Denise Gondim de Medonca fined Google Brazil and Facebook 50,000 reais (NZ$23,100) for "bad faith" in ignoring an earlier order.

In his original ruling, Judge William Fabian said the posting of such images demonstrated "worrying morbidness that is extremely disrespectful to the family's feeling of sorrow".

AFP