Munich court holds Google liable for AI Overviews defamation - a first

The Landgericht München I issued a preliminary injunction on May 28, 2026 under case reference 26 O 869/26, finding Google directly and primarily liable for false and defamatory claims generated by its AI Overviews (“Übersicht mit KI”) feature.

Two Munich-based publishing companies challenged AI Overviews that falsely linked them to scams, subscription traps, and shady business practices when users searched their company names with terms like “Betrugsmasche” (fraud scheme). The AI generated claims not present in any cited source websites.

The court prohibited Google from repeating those specific claims, on pain of fines up to EUR 250,000 per violation or custodial sanctions. Google must bear 80 percent of court and legal costs.

Timeline: harmful AI Overview responses first documented January 20, 2026; formal notice sent February 2, 2026; oral hearing April 23, 2026; judgment May 28, 2026.

The court distinguished AI Overviews from traditional search results, finding they create “independent, new, and substantive statements.” Google rejected DSA hosting-provider protections and notice-and-take-down search engine defenses.

This contrasts with a September 2025 Frankfurt Regional Court ruling (2-06 O 271/25) that held AI overview liability is not excluded in principle but dismissed the specific injunction request. Munich goes further by actually prohibiting specific false statements.