Kenneth Dintzer, a litigator for the US Department of Justice, argued in a recent antitrust trial that Google intentionally destroyed evidence related to its monopoly in the online search business. The DOJ claimed Google had a policy to turn chat history off when discussing sensitive topics to hide information from investigators. Google’s attorney argued that the missing chats wouldn’t have affected the case, but the DOJ requested sanctions against Google, including presumptions that the deleted chats were unfavorable, and that Google intended to maintain its monopoly. The judge expressed shock at Google’s actions, highlighting the company’s questionable document retention policy and deliberate attempts to hide information.
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2024/05/judge-mulls-sanctions-over-googles-shocking-destruction-of-internal-chats/