Photo: VDB Photos/Shutterstock.com

Google LLC is facing contempt charges Friday in a court in New South Wales, Australia, after it failed to immediately follow an order to take down negative reviews about a Sydney business.

In a statement, Google said it takes court orders seriously and responds to them in a timely manner. It has since removed the reviews.

The businessman, whose name was being withheld, filed a legal action against Google on July 4, according to various news reports, claiming the negative comments were defamatory and were harming his unnamed business. He is represented by Rebekah Giles, a partner in the Sydney office of U.K. law firm Kennedys. Giles did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The court said the reviews should be taken down. When they were still online July 5, the court charged Google with contempt. Google took them down Saturday.

In the past, Google's lawyers have said it waits on a court order to remove material because the company should not be the arbiter of what is “defamatory,” the definition of which can vary from country to country.

Jane Kirtley, professor of media law and ethics at the University of Minnesota, told Corporate Counsel on Wednesday that generally in the U.S., statements of opinion in such reviews are protected under the First Amendment, unless there is a false statement of fact.

Kirtley said, “Who has jurisdiction and whose law applies in an internet context is still unsettled. But countries tend to want to enforce their own laws.”

So Google's general counsel probably is not in a winning position in libel or privacy areas in Australia, she explained.

The company also has argued in past cases that removing negative reviews can work against consumer rights.

In April, according to an article in the Australian Guardian, Google noted that an Australian consumer watchdog agency had taken action against a deceptive car-for-hire company. That same company, Google said, had won court orders against Google 18 months earlier, forcing it to take down consumers' negative reviews.

Google, which did not immediately respond to questions about its policies, along with other online platforms, have argued that any fight should be between the person who left a negative review and the business being reviewed. Again, as Kirtley noted, some countries disagree with that view.