Google sues LATAM Airlines in US over Brazilian YouTube video dispute

Google sued Chile-based LATAM Airlines in U.S. federal court on Thursday, seeking a declaration that Brazilian courts cannot force the tech giant to take down a YouTube video in the U.S. that accused a LATAM employee of sexually abusing a child.

Alphabet's Google, which owns YouTube, said in the lawsuit that LATAM was attempting to "make an end-run" around protections for free speech under the U.S. Constitution by suing in Brazil to force the video's removal worldwide.

"LATAM has not received any official communication about the court case," the company told Reuters.

Google spokesperson Jose Castaneda said in a statement that the company has "long supported the legal principle that courts in a country have jurisdiction over content available in that country, but not over what content should be available in other countries."

Right-wing social media companies Trump Media and Rumble filed a similar lawsuit in Florida in February against a Brazilian judge who had ordered them to remove the U.S.-based accounts of a leading supporter of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro. A federal judge decided in the case that the companies were not required to comply with the order in the United States.

According to Google's lawsuit filed in San Jose, California, U.S. citizen and Florida resident Raymond Moreira posted two YouTube videos in 2018 of his 6-year-old son outlining allegations of sexual abuse that the child said he experienced from a LATAM employee while traveling as an unaccompanied minor. 

Moreira sued LATAM in Florida in 2020 over the alleged abuse, which led to a confidential settlement.

LATAM sued Google in Brazil in 2018 seeking an order to remove the video from YouTube. A Brazilian appeals court is set to consider next week whether it has the authority to order Google to take down the video worldwide.

Google asked the court in California on Thursday to declare that LATAM cannot force the tech giant to remove the video in the United States.

Canada's Supreme Court upheld an order for Google to remove some search results worldwide in a separate case in 2018. A California judge halted that order's U.S. enforcement in 2017.