Google employees, including CEO Sundar Pichai, may have deleted digital evidence relevant to their ongoing case against Epic Games. Read on to learn more.
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Epic v. Google
Google Found Encouraging Employees to Turn off Chat History or Talk in Unofficial Channels
The ongoing legal battle between Epic Games and Google (Epic v. Google), is set to determine whether the Google Play Store is an illegal monopoly, with it demanding high fees and enforcing strict rules for app developers. Epic had a similar battle against Apple in 2021.
Now in its sixth day, the focus has shifted to Google’s integrity. Allegations have been made against Google employees, including CEO Sundar Pichai, of deleting evidence and having their chats set to auto-delete after 24 hours.
According to The Verge’s Adi Robertson, the court allowed Epic to tell the jury that Google may have destroyed or hidden evidence. Epic’s lawyers have continuously brought up how few chat logs Google provided for the case.Sorry
A Google company policy surfaced in which employees are encouraged by their HR department to chat off the record when discussing sensitive issues. Google’s chat system also includes a feature which prevents chat history from being saved. Despite the legal hold put on the company after the Fortnite lawsuit, the company still continued with this under-the-desk behavior.
Google Information Governance Lead, Genaro Lopez, was asked if Google could have changed these policies to prevent the chats from being deleted. Lopez stated that they could have altered it, but didn’t. Epic’s lawyer then asked Lopez if he can guarantee that the deleted documents won’t contradict the testimonies in court. Lopez did not make the guarantee.
Additionally, messages saved from Google Head of Platforms & Ecosystems Strategy for Android, Margaret Lam, were brought up in court. Lam was seen directly asking employees to turn off chat history due to "sensitivity with legal these days :)" One of the other messages sent by Lam was "also just realized our history is on 🙊 can we turn it off? Haha".
Google CEO Claims The Deleted Messages Was A Glitch; Admits Use of Fake Legal Privilege
Pichai, during his testimony, admitted that he also wasn’t saving his chats, and let them get deleted after 24 hours. Epic was able to present evidence of Pichai asking for chat history to be turned off, and then trying to delete that message. The CEO then claimed that it was a glitch.
Additionally, Pichai confirmed that he marked documents with attorney/client privilege, even when he wasn’t consulting his lawyers, so that the emails wouldn’t get forwarded.
Epic is revealing all these in hopes of making Google look like its integrity is compromised. Judge James Donato summoned Google’s chief legal officer to be present in court by November 16 to explain what is happening. According to Donato, if he is absent or can’t give a good reason for the missing evidence, the judge may tell the jury not to trust Google as much.
