Canada: Federal Court of Appeal dismissed Google’s appeal on applicability of Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) to search engines

On 29 September 2023, the Federal Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal of Google in case 2023 FCA 200 regarding the applicability of the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA). The case at lower instance, 2021 FC 723, had been requested by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC), with the Federal Court of Canada issuing the previous ruling in favour of the OPC. The case originated with an individual’s complaint to the OPC that Google Search results connected to his name contained outdated and inaccurate information that exposed him to harm. The Court of Appeal ruled that PIPEDA applies to search engine results, and dismissed the arguments of Google that the search engine results do not fall within the scope of the Act because the search service is a journalistic rather than a commercial activity. The Court of Appeal denied the application of PIPEDA’s journalism exception to Google on the grounds that Google Search, which displays results of search queries ranked in relevance by algorithm, does not operate for journalistic purposes.