Google has been accused by multiple federal judges of engaging in tactics to conceal and destroy internal communications that could be used against the company in ongoing antitrust lawsuits. One judge called Google’s suppression of evidence “the most serious and disturbing” he had seen in his career as a judge.
Mercury News reports that in a series of ongoing anti-monopoly cases against Google, federal court judges have criticized the tech giant for lying, cheating, and deliberately destroying evidence that could be used against the company. The incidents, filed as evidence in the lawsuits, highlight what authorities say are Google’s long-running efforts to hide and eliminate internal communications that could be damaging in legal actions.
In one instance, a high-ranking Google director realized that a communication program’s chat history function was turning on while discussing digital-ads prices with two executives, meaning the conversation would not be automatically deleted and could be discovered by adversaries in lawsuits. The director texted, “History is on, jesus. Sigh.”
Judges in three separate cases have taken issue with Google’s handling of evidence. In San Francisco federal court, Judge James Donato described Google’s suppression of evidence as “the most serious and disturbing” he had seen as a judge. He stated that Google “intended to subvert” the process of providing materials to its lawsuit opponents and that evidence was “lost with the intent to prevent its use in litigation.”
In Virginia federal court, Judge Leonie Brinkema said Google employees added lawyers into discussions as a “smokescreen” to invoke attorney-client privilege, calling the maneuver a “clear abuse.” She concluded that an “awful lot of evidence has likely been destroyed.”
In the District of Columbia federal court, Judge Amit Mehta expressed his astonishment at “the lengths to which Google goes to avoid creating a paper trail” for regulators and legal foes. He cited the auto-deletion of chats and noted that Google instructed employees to include a lawyer in sensitive email discussions, mark the message “attorney/client privileged,” and “ask the lawyer a question.”
Google maintains that it takes its obligations to preserve and produce relevant documents seriously. However, the company’s tactics have led to skepticism from judges and critics. Jason Kint, CEO of Digital Content Next, a trade association representing online publishers, stated, “It’s like they’ve developed their own moral code, and that moral code is to justify whatever decisions they make.”
The accusations against Google come as the company fights desperately to avoid being broken up as a monopoly in multiple anti-monopoly lawsuits. The cases allege that Google holds illegal monopolies in areas such as digital ads, internet search, and the Google Play app store.
Read more at Mercury News here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship.
