The Department of Justice has sanctioned Google, alleging that its employees deleted instant messages in violation of federal laws regarding records.
The DOJ had sued to split up Google in January 2023 on the grounds that it dominates online advertising. Google had claimed in a Feb. 10 court filing that it had maintained records of all relevant conversations from staff. The government, though, asserted that employees used “off-the-record” chats on Google Hangouts to discuss the lawsuit, according to Bloomberg.
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“For years, Google employees intentionally steered conversations away from email and toward chats, sometimes explicitly requesting that the history remain off,” Justice Department lawyers said in the filing. “By intentionally destroying employee chats and making repeated misleading disclosures to the United States, Google violated” federal litigation rules.
The Justice Department asked the judge overseeing the trial to hold an evidentiary hearing on Google’s chat deletion practices and to sanction the company at an upcoming trial.
Google denied the DOJ’s allegations. “Our teams have conscientiously worked for years to respond to inquiries and litigation. In fact, we have produced over 4 million documents in this case alone, and millions more to regulators around the world,” a spokesperson said in an emailed statement.
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If successful, the antitrust lawsuit could force Google to share its collection of ad technology tools with competitors and diminish its ability to maintain its advantage through advanced algorithms and software.
Google is facing two major antitrust lawsuits over its role in online monopolies. The DOJ sued Google in 2020 for allegedly violating antitrust laws through its search and advertising practices.
