John Barilaro tells court he felt 'broken' after Friendlyjordies videos appeared on YouTube …

Former New South Wales deputy premier John Barilaro was “broken” and “wanted to hide” during the state’s Delta outbreak due to the abuse from members of the public that followed a series of Friendlyjordies videos, a defamation trial has heard.On Tuesday, Barilaro took the stand in his case against tech giant Google over a series of videos made by the YouTube comedian Jordan Shanks, who uses the nom de plume Friendlyjordies, in late 2020.Barilaro told the court about his “anger” at Google for refusing to take down videos at the centre of the case despite repeated requests from his staff, and recalled telling his staff he was contemplating self-harm after receiving significant online abuse.“I was in a dark place,” Barilaro told the court.“The pile on, pile on, pile on, pile on. It’s hard to admit to your friends how you’re feeling [but] I did say those things and I’ve thought about those things often.“When you’re away from your family in your apartment in Sydney, up late at night deleting abusive comments [online], I tell you what, you start looking at the balcony for a way out.”Barilaro launched legal action against both Shanks and Google, the owner of YouTube, over two…
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