‘REPEATED DESTRUCTION’

DOJ Slams Google for Allegedly Auto-Deleting Chats Pertinent to Antitrust Case

Google has routinely auto-deleted internal communications after 24 hours, impeding on the Department of Justice's antitrust lawsuit against the company, the department alleged.

The Department of Justice is calling for sanctions against Google for its “intentional and repeated destruction” of company chat logs relevant to the government’s antitrust lawsuit against the tech company. Although Google claimed it would maintain internal communications, the company maintained a policy to delete certain chats automatically after 24 hours, impeding the DOJ’s investigation, the department said. “Google’s daily destruction of written records prejudiced the United States by depriving it of a rich source of candid discussions between Google’s executives, including likely trial witnesses,” the department’s court filing said. Google has refuted the claims and argued the company has been compliant during the investigation. However, the DOJ’s filing claims Google withheld information on the auto-deleting chats until earlier this month, when the tech company agreed to preserve the chats. Judge Amit Mehta declined to issue sanctions, but ordered every email in question be reexamined.