Google’s decision to delete chat histories has put the company in a critical situation. The chat evidence was related to Epic Games antitrust case, and Google might have deleted those chats to escape antitrust lawsuits. The company could also face sanctions.
According to Engadget (via CNBC), the San Francisco US District Judge James Donato said Google “adopted a ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy for keeping messages, at the expense of its preservation duties.” Of course, the judge says the case won’t be decided based on destroyed chats. And that the court is still examining the non-monetary sanctions.
Donato did not comment on possible sanctions against Google. But said that the court is waiting for the end of fact discovery. Because plaintiffs can tell better at that time what was lost in the chats. The judge also ordered Google to cover Epic Games’ reasonable attorney’s fees.
In February, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) also said the tech giant deleted chat records related to an antitrust investigation. The DOJ accused Google of “systematically” destroying written communications every 24 hours.
Google reportedly destroyed chat records related to Epic Games’ antitrust case
Epic Games claims Google deliberately destroyed the internal chat records. Even though it was obligated to keep them according to the court order. The game maker also submitted exhibits to show how Google employees changed the chat history setting in their communication platform.
As per the filing details, Google CEO Sundar Pichai wrote to employees, “…also can we change the setting of this group to history off.” He later tried to delete that message. Google employees were reportedly asked to switch off chat histories when talking about multiple topics. Including revenue sharing, mobile app distribution agreements, and changing the commission rates for Google Play.
Google alleges they’ve worked with Epic and state AGs’ discovery over the past few years. All while producing over three million documents, including chat records. “We’ll continue to show the court how choice, security, and openness are built into Android and Google Play,” a Google spokesperson said.
2023-03-30 15:06:57