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The corporation is accused of intentionally removing evidence and concealing facts.
For 15 years, Google has been building an internal culture aimed at minimizing the risks of lawsuits. As it became known from court documents in three antitrust cases, the company's employees were systematically instructed to avoid "hot topics", not to use sarcasm and to carefully consider their comments.
In addition, in 2008, the company introduced automatic deletion of chat histories, and all employees were advised to add lawyers to the recipients of letters, even if the issues discussed were not related to the law.
Judges hearing cases have repeatedly criticized Google for this practice. One of them, James Donato, called it a "systemic culture of suppressing evidence," noting that such behavior threatens the fairness of justice.
The US Department of Justice also noted that Google is evading the creation of a documentary base suitable for litigation. In one of the cases, it was revealed that the company systematically destroyed messages using instant messaging tools with an automatic history deletion function.
Such actions caused dissatisfaction with regulators. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Department of Justice have reminded companies that electronic communications must be retained as legally significant documents, especially in the face of the threat of litigation.
Google claims that the changes were aimed at "streamlining" processes and minimizing unnecessary information. However, documents presented in court show that the company systematically tried to cover up the traces of the discussions.
Some Google employees, fearing liability, continued to circumvent the new rules. For example, after the change in the message retention policy in 2023, some employees switched to closed messengers for informal communication.
The antitrust cases against Google mainly focus on the company's dominance in the online advertising and search engine market. At the same time, the courts emphasize that the above practices undermine confidence in large corporations, creating the illusion of secrecy.
Legal experts believe that this strategy has had the opposite effect: instead of protecting its reputation, it has raised doubts about the company's transparency. This undermines Google's credibility and increases suspicions of its unscrupulous actions.
Source
For 15 years, Google has been building an internal culture aimed at minimizing the risks of lawsuits. As it became known from court documents in three antitrust cases, the company's employees were systematically instructed to avoid "hot topics", not to use sarcasm and to carefully consider their comments.
In addition, in 2008, the company introduced automatic deletion of chat histories, and all employees were advised to add lawyers to the recipients of letters, even if the issues discussed were not related to the law.
Judges hearing cases have repeatedly criticized Google for this practice. One of them, James Donato, called it a "systemic culture of suppressing evidence," noting that such behavior threatens the fairness of justice.
The US Department of Justice also noted that Google is evading the creation of a documentary base suitable for litigation. In one of the cases, it was revealed that the company systematically destroyed messages using instant messaging tools with an automatic history deletion function.
Such actions caused dissatisfaction with regulators. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Department of Justice have reminded companies that electronic communications must be retained as legally significant documents, especially in the face of the threat of litigation.
Google claims that the changes were aimed at "streamlining" processes and minimizing unnecessary information. However, documents presented in court show that the company systematically tried to cover up the traces of the discussions.
Some Google employees, fearing liability, continued to circumvent the new rules. For example, after the change in the message retention policy in 2023, some employees switched to closed messengers for informal communication.
The antitrust cases against Google mainly focus on the company's dominance in the online advertising and search engine market. At the same time, the courts emphasize that the above practices undermine confidence in large corporations, creating the illusion of secrecy.
Legal experts believe that this strategy has had the opposite effect: instead of protecting its reputation, it has raised doubts about the company's transparency. This undermines Google's credibility and increases suspicions of its unscrupulous actions.
Source
