STI Technologies (Holdings) Unit Trust v Google Inc

STI Technologies (Holdings) Unit Trust (STI) commenced proceedings against Google Inc (Google) in the Federal Court of Australia, alleging that Google had engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct in contravention of section 18 of the Australian Consumer Law (ACL). STI contended that Google's representations regarding the functionality and performance of its advertising services, specifically its "Google Ads" platform, were false and misleading, leading STI to incur significant losses.

The primary legal issue before the Court was whether Google's statements about the capabilities of its Google Ads platform constituted misleading or deceptive conduct under the ACL. This involved determining whether a reasonable consumer in STI's position would have been misled by Google's representations concerning the effectiveness and targeting capabilities of its advertising services, and whether these representations were factually accurate.

Justice Brown found that Google's representations regarding the performance and targeting of its advertising services were not misleading or deceptive. The Court considered the nature of the representations made, the context in which they were presented to a sophisticated commercial entity like STI, and the available evidence. Her Honour concluded that the statements, when viewed in their entirety and in the context of the Google Ads platform's known operational characteristics, did not create a false or misleading impression in the mind of a reasonable consumer. The Court therefore dismissed STI's claim.