Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has raised the name suppression breach in the Grace Millane murder case while meeting with Google in Davos on Thursday (NZ time).
The Prime Minister's office confirmed that Ms Ardern raised the name suppression order and has been given an assurance that Google will be looking further into it and will follow up with the Government in the near future.
In December, the man accused of killing Ms Millane was given interim name suppression, but an email sent out by Google named the man - something Justice Minister Andrew Little has said could mean the accused walks free.
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Mr Little met with Google representatives in December to question the internet juggernaut on its systems and how it deals with court orders, which Ross Young, Google's senior manager of public policy and government affairs, said it would review.
While in Switzerland for the World Economic Forum, Ms Ardern had been invited to a dinner hosted by Google and said she would reiterate her Government's concerns about their breaching of the suppression.
"I will have the opportunity to raise it," she said.
Ms Ardern said it may be difficult to have a fulsome conversation due to the dinner setting but said she would "try" to bring the topic up.
Numerous international media outlets published the 26-year-old accused man's name following his first appearance in court in December, and while it was removed from some online articles, it quickly spread on social media.
"It will not do justice to the Millane family if the accused in this case gets to walk away from facing justice because somebody else disclosed his details, and he is able to say he won't get a fair trial," Mr Little told Newshub at the time.
He will be in touch with Google early this year to find out what progress it has made in reviewing its systems.
Last week, the accused pled not-guilty to the charge of killing the British backpacker, who went missing on December 2. Her body was found a week later in west Auckland.
Newshub.
