A federal judge ruled against Google this week, sanctioning the tech giant over its intentional destruction of evidence in an antitrust case.
Judge James Donato determined that Google must be held accountable for its actions in the high-profile case.
Judge Sanctions Google for Destroying Evidence in Antitrust Case https://t.co/XvC9Ly3sLB #SocialMedia #News #BreakingNews
— US Burning (@UsBurning) March 30, 2023
"Ars Technica reports that U.S. District Judge James Donato has ruled that Google must be held accountable for its deliberate destruction of evidence in an antitrust case," Breitbart News reported.
"The Court’s decision is a component of a multi-district antitrust lawsuit against the tech giant filed by several plaintiffs, including Epic Games, the attorneys general of 38 states and the District of Columbia, the Match Group, and a class of consumers," it added.
Google's failure to preserve employee messages in Epic antitrust case merits sanctions, judge says https://t.co/ytwvr8alKY
— CNBC (@CNBC) March 28, 2023
The case involved Epic Games, who brought the case against Google over destroyed chat history in a litigation.
"Epic alleged that Google failed to retain chat messages between employees that it should have preserved while under a litigation hold. Google allegedly left it to employees to determine when to turn on and off their chat history when discussing matters relevant to the legal proceedings," CNBC reported.
"Epic said Google should have ensured those messages were preserved by default," it continued.
A federal judge ruled that Google must pay sanctions for deleting evidence in antitrust cases. The ruling is part of an MDL that includes a consumer class action with as many as 21 million residents, 38 states and the District of Columbia among others https://t.co/SB58hLxxDU pic.twitter.com/9TBUE6TwaF
— Reuters Legal (@ReutersLegal) March 29, 2023
"The consumers and other plaintiffs are challenging Google's alleged monopoly for distributing Android mobile applications, allegations that Google has denied. Plaintiffs have claimed aggregate damages of $4.7 billion," according to Reuters.
"The judge asked the plaintiffs' lawyers by April 21 to provide an amount in legal fees they are seeking as a sanction," according to the report.
The latest ruling is one of the multiple cases against Google in recent months that have to changes at the company which has now updated its records recording chat messaging.
The massive antitrust fines will likely push Google to make even more changes to preserve evidence in a move that could make it more difficult for those seeking to keep communications private.