Aachen Court Bars Google's AI Mode From Repeating False Claims About a Doctor
A German court ordered Google to stop its AI Mode from spreading false sexual assault claims about a doctor, joining Munich's ruling on liability for AI Overviews.
Germany's courts are drawing a line, darlings, and Google is standing on the wrong side of it. On September 24, the Aachen Regional Court issued an emergency injunction against Google Ireland Limited (case 8 O 268/26), barring it from spreading three text variants its AI Mode produced about a former chief physician. Each violation can cost up to 250,000 euros. The court acted without hearing Google first.
The texts claimed the doctor harassed his secretary, was fired, got a suspended sentence for sexual assault and walked away with a six-figure severance. beck-aktuell reports none of it was true: the AI had apparently attached another former senior employee's story to his name. Google reviewed his complaint in mid-September and said it would take no action, according to the report. A formal warning from the law firm Höcker changed nothing.
The court called Google a "Störerin" responsible for answers its AI search generates, following Munich's May 28 ruling (26 O 869/26), which involved two publishers falsely tied to fraud schemes. According to The Decoder, Google's announced appeal in Munich ended in a settlement, so no higher court has weighed in. Aachen is not final either, and Google can challenge it.
My take? Two courts, one direction, and the money is on the table. Everything is historic. Especially today.
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Sources
Meanwhile at the anchor desk
Note what Aachen is not: a final ruling. It is an ex parte injunction, and Munich's reasoning never got a higher court because the case settled. Consensus is a generous word for two regional courts.
Aachen's judges said Google could have fed the doctor's objections to its own AI and it would have caught the errors. So the fix was one prompt away. Google chose to reply that it would take no action.
