GOOGLE DELETE FUROR

‘Chat logs’ lost in suit

A federal judge blasted Google this week after determining that the tech giant intentionally deleted chat records that were sought as part of sweeping antitrust litigation related to its app store, Google Play.

US District Judge James Donato found that the company’s failure to preserve internal chat logs violated a court order in the case, which is one of several antitrust lawsuits that threaten the Alphabet unit’s dominance over search and digital advertising and more.

The lawsuit’s plaintiffs, including 38 state attorneys general, the District of Columbia, Epic Games and Match Group, argue that the app-store policies are exclusionary and harmful to competition.

Donato noted that internal chat logs among employees were meant to be saved through a “history on” setting and provided to the court as part of the discovery process. Instead, the messages were deleted via an auto-erase function.

The judge said Google “intended to subvert the discovery process” through its actions, according to the San Jose Mercury News.

“Google has tried to downplay the problem and displayed a dismissive attitude ill-tuned to the gravity of its conduct,” Donato said in the Tuesday ruling.

Donato determined that Google must pay the plaintiffs’ legal fees for the court proceedings related to the deleted chat logs.

Additionally, the judge said a “determination of an appropriate non-monetary sanction requires further proceedings.”

The defense

A Google spokesperson pushed back on the ruling, noting that the company had “produced over 3 million documents, including thousands of chats,” during the legal proceedings.

“We’ll continue to show the court how choice, security and openness are built into Android and Google Play,” the spokesperson added.

The judge’s ruling followed a Monday filing by the plaintiffs that alleged “a companywide culture of concealment coming from the very top, including CEO Sundar Pichai.”

The plaintiffs’ filing noted one chat exchange in which Pichai, while discussing something related to the antitrust case, asked if the “history off” setting could be enabled.

The Google CEO then allegedly unsuccessfully tried to delete the message.

The plaintiffs are seeking billions of dollars in damages over their claims that Google has stifled rivals and impeded competition through its app-store policies.

The company has denied wrongdoing.