Google filed a lawsuit in U.S. federal court on Thursday asking a judge to block Chile-based LATAM Airlines from using a Brazilian court order to remove a YouTube video in the United States.
The company said foreign courts should not control what content is available to American users.
The case centers on a 2018 video posted by a Florida resident, Raymond Moreira, in which his six-year-old son accuses a LATAM employee of sexual abuse while travelling alone. Moreira later filed a lawsuit in Florida, which was settled privately.
LATAM sued Google in Brazil the same year, seeking the video’s removal worldwide. Brazil’s top court is expected to rule soon on whether it has the power to enforce such an order globally.
Google said the lawsuit in Brazil is an attempt to bypass U.S. free speech protections. It asked the U.S. court to confirm that LATAM cannot use foreign rulings to remove content in the United States.
The case follows a similar situation earlier this year, when two U.S. media companies challenged a Brazilian order to take down accounts linked to a political supporter of former president Jair Bolsonaro.
Google has argued that courts should only control online content within their own country. A Canadian court had previously ordered global takedowns in a different case, but a U.S. judge blocked its enforcement.
