A judge in France has decided to rule against Caroline Doudet, a French blogger whose negative restaurant review was reported due to being “too prominent” in it’s Google search ranking. The judge’s order was that the title of the blog post had to be changed and Ms Doudet had to pay damages to the owners of the restaurant.
The decision was incredibly controversial due to the fact that it’s suggesting a high search ranking is a crime. Many people have questioned the validity of the order, and bloggers across the globe have spoken out in anger.
The claim put forward by the owners said that the strong prominence of the article was an unfair harm to their business, seeing as it portrayed them in a negative light and cost them valued customers.
The blog post that was made by Ms Doudet was called “The Place To Avoid in Cap-Ferret”, followed by the name of the restaurant, II Giardino. It’s located in southwestern France’s Aquitaine region.
The court’s documents stated that the review had featured 4th in the results when you searched for the name of the restaurant. The decision that the judge came to was that the title had to be altered, so the “place to avoid” was not as prominent in the results of a search.
The harm put forward on the restaurant was pointed out by the judge sitting in Bordeaux, who said that it was exacerbated by the blogger’s 3,000 followers on her literature and fashion blog. A famous blogger from Bristol has spoken out in outrage to his 5000+/- followers on Twitter.
Her article, which has now been removed, stated that there was a generally poor service and negative attitude on behalf of the restaurant’s owner when she visited the shop in August 2013. The owner found the entire article to be an issue, but the judge decided to just rule that the title be changed and a fine was sent to Ms Doudet.

Microsoft has announced that the company is going to stop developing future Android smartphones, except for those that are already available on the market. Nokia X smartphones will become an important part of Lumia range, running the Windows Phone OS instead, although Android handsets will still be supported.
The move came as Microsoft announced about 18,000 job cuts across the company’s workforce. According to Microsoft’s executive in charge with mobile devices Stephen Elop, Microsoft plans to increase Windows Phone OS popularity by targeting the cheaper smartphone segments that are also the fastest-growing at this time. Beyond the portfolio they have already planned, Microsoft intends to deliver additional low-cost Lumia mobile devices by interchanging Nokia X designs to new Windows Phone devices.
Ben Wood of CCS Insight stated that the move was intended to increase sales of Microsoft’s Lumia range, as the decision has been made before Microsoft’s takeover of Nokia. It seems like everyone scratched their heads prior to the initial release of Android-powered Nokia smartphones in February, as Wood has declared for BBC. Mr. Wood has said that phasing out Android devices was more like a strategic move meant to take the developments the company has made on the hardware to drive Lumia price to lower levels.