Tánaiste gets go-ahead for proceedings against Google to give identity of false advertisers

One advert featured a photograph of Mr Martin which was overlaid over photographs of a luxury residence or swimming pool seemingly located in a foreign jurisdiction, and a jet aircraft

Micheál Martin wants names, email addresses, telephone numbers relating to the relevant Google accounts which would help find those behind the adverts. File picture: Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin

Tánaiste Micháel Martin has gone to the High Court in a bid to find those behind false adverts linking him to a cryptocurrency scam.

Mr Martin is seeking information from tech giant Google which would either directly or indirectly help him identify the persons or companies ultimately responsible for the display and publication of the advertisements.

The adverts, he says, were published on prominent websites last July and contain statements which he said would injure his reputation in the eyes of reasonable members of society.

In a sworn affidavit to the court the Tánaiste said the false association may have caused “or certainly had the potential to cause significant damage to his public good will and reputation as a public representative”.  

He said there is a strong public interest in facilitating his attempts “to identify the wrongdoers and to hold them legally responsible for the creation and publication of the deliberately misleading material.” Such a court order, he said, would also deter “further attempts at spreading online misinformation by persons who believe that their anonymity provides them with immunity form legal consequence.” 

The Tánaiste wants names, email addresses, telephone numbers relating to the relevant Google accounts which would help find those behind the adverts.

In case those behind the accounts have given “sham contact details”, Mr Martin is also seeking any financial details so he can “follow the money”. Mr Martin on Thursday was given permission by the High Court to serve at short notice his proceedings on Google Ireland Ltd and Google LLC.

The application was made by Padraic Lyons SC with only the Martin side represented. Mr Lyons said since a complaint was made to Google the ads have been taken down and the advertiser’s accounts suspended under the platform’s “egregious policy violations”.

Google has told Mr Martin’s lawyers such ads are part of a "global trend" of "scammy bad actors trying to deceive users by enticing them to click into an ad by using popular figures/celebrities along with provocative text or content".

Google also said it could not under law produce user/customer data to a third party, irrespective of their circumstances, without a court order that it do so.

Mr Justice Mark Sanfey said he concurred with the categorisation about the conduct of those who placed the ads as "egregious" and it was a matter that required to be addressed urgently.

In his affidavit to the court, Mr Martin said the relevant adverts consisted of two display adverts with a linked lengthy “pseudo newspaper article”. The first advert featured a photograph of Mr Martin which was overlaid over photographs of a luxury residence or swimming pool seemingly located in a foreign jurisdiction, and a jet aircraft typically used as a private aircraft.

The fake newspaper article which contained several photographs of Mr Martin purported to reproduce excerpts of interviews conducted with Mr Martin and media outlets during which Mr Martin “supposedly endorsed a new wealth loophole, namely a crypto currency auto trading program that can transform anyone into a millionaire within three to four months”.

Asked by the judge on Thursday about the delay in seeking to bring proceedings, Mr Lyons said a large part of this was because the Tánaiste had “an unusually heavy series of engagements in November.

The case comes back before the court next week.