[habinero]

We are absolutely talking about the 1A lol. Defamation is 1A law. It is one of the few recognized exceptions to the 1A.

And we are also 100% talking about public figures. "Public figures" include companies and it's a critical part of 1A since Times v Sullivan.

Google is a US company and has 1A rights. That's how it works. The rest of what you said is nonsense and is your idea of how it should work, but has nothing to do with how it actually works.

[otterley]

To be more accurate, defamation is civil tort law, circumscribed by the First Amendment. (Defamation as a cause of action is quite old, reaching back to our English common law roots, and goes back further in history, I believe.)

[habinero]

That's more general, not more accurate. Civil tort law is a broad class of things. It's like saying "to be more accurate, a supermarket is a type of store". Well, yes.